How does response to work communication impact employees’ collaborative performance? A view of the social connectivity paradox

Abstract

Contemporary digital work practices increasingly necessitate prompt responses by employees to work-related communication. The impact of employees’ response behavior to work communication (RBWC) on collaborative performance remains underexplored. To address this gap, we propose a theoretical model integrating the theories of person-environment fit, social support, and conservation of resources. RBWC is conceptualized as the degree of communication response (in)congruence, representing the (mis)fit between rapid response expectations and the employee's ability to respond rapidly. We investigate the diverse effects of various states of response congruence on collaborative performance, mediated by the social connectivity paradox manifested as social support and social overload, while grounding this work on social support theory. The results from surveying 268 professionals and employing polynomial regression and surface response analysis demonstrate that different response congruence states significantly influence the social connectivity paradox and subsequently impact collaborative performance. Social support mediates the relationship between response congruence and collaborative performance, while social overload mediates the linear association between response ability and collaborative performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.