Nabila Boukef is an Associate Professor in Information Systems and Digital Transformation at SKEMA Business School. She is a researcher at the SKEMA Centre for Analytics and Management Science. Her research revolves around digitalization and the transformation of the workplace. She is currently investigating the use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) in the workplace and the challenges of hybrid work.
Could you tell us more about your field of research?
My field of research is Information Systems. It investigates the use and impacts of information technologies (ITs). I am particularly interested in how ITs are transforming employees’ behaviours such as interactions, knowledge sharing, and socialising in the workplace. My research lies in the intersection of Information Systems and Organisational Behaviour (OB). In addition, a significant focus of my study is on enhancing employee well-being, knowledge sharing, and work-life balance, recognising that it is pivotal to organisational success.
What are the challenges in your field?
Since hybrid work has gained prominence, questions related to IT use and the impact on employees’ behaviours are gaining momentum. Companies are investing heavily in new IT to improve communication and collaboration. Far from replacing each other, these different media co-exist and superimpose over one another, forming “the millefeuille effect[1]”(Boukef & Kalika, 2006). Scholars have associated the millefeuille effect with overload and inefficiency but there is no consensus on whether it should be encouraged or fought. I am interested in understanding how it shapes communication and collaboration, notably within geographically dispersed teams. Additionally, IT use can also have unexpected impacts, which should be anticipated by managers. Most challenges observed in companies stem from misunderstanding the “social” component of technology.
Who are the stakeholders involved?
I am working with a team of researchers from the Information Systems and Organisational Behaviours fields. With my co-authors, we work with various companies that are interested in understanding their employees’ use of IT in the workplace. We use sophisticated data analysis that relies on qualitative, quantitative, and social network analysis to provide concrete answers to the problems raised by the companies and recommendations to improve their practices.
What results surprised you the most?
Conducting research in IT enabled me to identify contradictory outcomes depending on context. For instance, in my dissertation conducted in a car-manufacturing company, I found that the use of email in two different business units within one company can have different outcomes. In one case, hierarchy was reinforced and in another, subordinates were empowered. Another interesting example is our research conducted in an international cosmetics company, which showed that nonwork communities enable employees to meet around their passion and share valuable knowledge. These relationships can be useful to ask for advice and help in work-context.
What is the research you are currently carrying out and its outcomes?
I have multiple research projects going on at the moment. One of the projects explores how the use of ESM for nonwork-related purposes is impacting well-being at work. Our results showed that non-work knowledge contributions increase employee’s well-being only when facilitating work-related knowledge contribution. This finding is particularly significant, as it highlights that non-work use of ESM is not beneficial in itself, unless it translates into work-related benefits.
By grounding my findings in the everyday practices of organisations, my research provides concrete answers and actionable recommendations tailored to the specific needs and context of companies. For instance, the manager of one of the studied company’s was questioning the benefits that the use of ESM, notably for nonwork related purposes, has.
My recently published paper[2] shows that knowledge contributions on ESM can also be about nonwork-related topics, which can foster knowledge contribution on work-related topics. The role of organisational support in fostering this relationship is also highlighted.
[1] The millefeuille effect refers to French celebrated layer pastry, the name of which means “a thousand layers.” The millefeuille effect is one of the main contributions of my Ph.D. dissertation.
[2] Bridging the gap between work‐and nonwork‐related knowledge contributions on enterprise social media: The role of the employee–employer relationship (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/isj.12500)