Effect of Computer-Mediated Communication System on Job Satisfaction of Employees in Transmission Division of Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka

This study aims to investigate how computer mediated communication (CMC) system have impacted on employee’s job satisfaction of Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka to fill the gaps in the computer mediated communication literature and provide useful information on interpersonal relationships within an organization. The sample of the study consisted of 400 respondents representing executive and medium level technical service (MLTS) staff of the transmission division of Ceylon Electricity Board in Sri Lanka. Self-administered questionnaire and the web-based questionnaire was used to collect primary data while data were analyzed with Partial Least Squares path modeling (PLS). The research findings indicated that computerized maintenance management is the most significant factor impacting on the employees’ job satisfaction and it also identified that there is a positive and statistically significant impact of instant messaging and electronic mails on employees’ job satisfaction. The results provide valuable input regarding the instant messaging and job satisfaction.

The computer-mediated communication system has done significant changes in the ways people communicate and associate with each other in both government and private sector organizations today (Jayalal & Balasuriya, 2015). With the use of CMC, system information can be sent to single as well as multiple recipients thus making the distribution of information easier and quicker than ever before (Wellman, Salaff, Dimitrova, & Garton, 1996). Organizations believe that access to and use of this information would result in increased worker productivity and efficiency and make it easier for them to communicate with employees (Bob & Sooknanan, 2014). With this rapid change in communication technology, the organizational culture and employees working environment, organizational language, interpersonal relationships of the employee has changed as a result of CMC effects. These changes which were created due to CMC system influence has made a significant impact on employees work life and their job satisfaction (Dhir, 2018). In line with the discussion, job satisfaction may be identified as a construct which is concerned with the psychological incidents at the workplace that adds greater linkage among employees, their jobs and their organization (Okwudili, 2012).
On the other hand, the employees should have up-to-date technological skills or have to develop those skills to adapt to the digitalizing work environment.
Learning and adapting to new technologies may increase the workload and cause stress (Bordi, Heikkilä, & Okkonen, 2014). The number of technologies used at work, constant changes in ICTs, plus malfunctions and usability problems of the systems may increase the risk of lowered wellbeing and satisfaction (Day, Scott, Kelloway, 2010). Thus, if the CMC system has an impact on job satisfaction, then organizations using CMC system have an effective tool for influencing employee job satisfaction. With technological advancements, most of the organizations get improved by adopting the latest components to their communication practices (Lee, 2011).
Most of the researches (Belle, Hall, Riekert, & Muganda, 2007;Lau, 2014;Bob & Sooknanan, 2014) have conducted researches on the topic of impact of computer-mediated communication on the interpersonal relationship of couples, groups or workers. Nevertheless, every organization not only in western countries all over the world are using the CMC system as their main communication media, there are only a few studies done on workers performance or employee satisfaction in the CMC environment. However, most of the CMC studies focus on the CMC effect, use and user satisfaction. According to the literature found (Epure, Ionescu, & Nancu, 2013;Giri, & Kumar, 2010;Mukahi, Nakamura, & Not, 2003) there are very few numbers of research were done in the world to examine the impact of CMC on job satisfaction.
In the Sri Lankan context, research to find the direct impact of the CMC system on and job satisfaction in the service sector of Sri Lanka is still not done. So, there is a problem of whether the CMC practices can improve the job satisfaction of employees. Therefore, this research study is most important to fill up that research gap identified in the Sri Lankan context. Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is a large scale organization distributed its branches to every nook of the country to supply energy to all categories of power consumers and sale of electrical energy in islandwide. CEB also has been adopted CMC technology to the organizational communication and other related tasks for last decay. Due to the advancement of this technology, there is an increasing number of workplace activities involve computer-mediated communication (CMC) system and CMC system has changed the ways of people communicate and relationships in each other in an organization.
The research question, therefore, leading directly to an empirical investigation in this study is "Does the adaptation of computer-mediated communication (CMC) system lead job satisfaction of the employees in Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka?" Bordi, Tammi, & Okkonen (2014) reveals that computermediated communication and electronic documents are mostly favored over traditional telephone calls and paper, as they seem to be easier to manage and increase the opportunity of having further control over employee's work. Before the 70 th decade, some people thought using computers for information exchange as dangerous. Some people feel threatened by computers (Dahanayake, 2015). But after1970s, some people start to feel computers enhance their opportunities of making any information available to someone and supporting information exchange easily and speedily irrespective of geographical distances (Palme, 2000).

Traditional Communication to Modern Communication
With the development of computer and internet technology, computer-mediated communication (CMC) appropriated all forms of communication facilities in the workplace.
CMC improved vertical and horizontal information flow more efficiently across organizations as well as information intake to the organization. Not only the fastness of CMC practice but also volume and portion in the organizational work done are getting greater and greater rapidly. As a result of factors such as greater access to organizational power, decisionmaking and creative processes it has also been credited with significant improvement in task efficiency, planning, promoting timely and complete feedback, controlling organizational activities, managing time, initiating action plans, responding to the environment, planning flexible work schedule (Bob & Sooknanan, 2014).
There are lots of advantages that employees can enjoy because of the CMC systems introduced and developed in an organization. As claims of Rowley(1999), CMC makes the response more quickly than was possible through a letter or memo as well as can attach more files and communicate with groups on one occasion. So, CMC creates faster, speeder and reliable communication service. Further, he discussed the management and development of organizations considered to be centralized with CMC, and, indeed, the style of communication can influence interpersonal relationships, and in turn, factors such as commitment and motivation. Gush (1999) researched to examine the potential and limitations of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in an educational context at Bournemouth University on two courses to serve the needs of students out on their work placement year. There he found that the CMC is its ability to facilitate learning at a distance by providing a sophisticated tool for communication. The advantage of this is, therefore it creates new knowledge and understanding while working collaboratively with a view and can deliver against desired outcomes (Bordi, Tammi, & Okkonen, 2014). According to Samarawickrama (2017), the usage of computerrelated communication has grown in government institutes of Sri Lanka began in 1960. With the establishment of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) in 1991 and the initiation of SLT Internet service facility in 1996 adaptation to CMC is increased in public and private sector organizations. Therefore, CMC systems and its dimensions such as instant messaging, email, chat rooms, online forums, and social network services start to play a major role in organizational communication in education, health, banking, travel &Tourism and manufacturing industries in Sri Lanka.

Dimensions of CMC
The commonly used CMC dimensions in Ceylon Electricity Board are discussed follows according to different views of different authors to set up the hypothesis.

E-mails
Electronic mail or e-mail is defined as the transmission of messages over communications networks.
Those messages containing text, documents, sound, pictures, and even computer programs. Computers are generally used as terminals, but electronic agendas, cell phones, data communication terminals or other data exchange equipment can also be used to send emails (Beal, 2019). Currently, more than 600 million people around the world use email as a means of communication for personal and business communication needs (Mertena & Gloorb, 2009). With the development of the World Wide Web, the email also continued to develop, with providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and Google offered free email accounts. E-mail possess the highest level of social presence, followed by other CMC dimensions as claims of (Tu, 2002). He reveals also email is more public in public and private sector organizations today. Quaresma, da Silva, & Marreiros, (2013) empirically studied the use of e-mail in an organizational context, using a sample of the Portuguese population with an active e-mail account assigned by the employer. The results show that most users have what is considered appropriate behavior. The paper of Smith & Tabak, (2009) provides evidence of work outcomes of e-mail monitoring regarding employee attitudes and behaviors such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and performance. Not only the positive impact, but there are some drawbacks as well. Mertena & Gloorb,(2009) calculated email responsiveness and conducted an individual job satisfaction survey. They identified patterns of productive and less-productive e-mail usage. Results indicate that central network position reduces e-mail responsiveness, while this position in the organization's social network also seems to be correlated with lower job satisfaction. The team which sent and received the most e-mail reported the lowest job satisfaction.

Instant Messaging
Instant messaging (IM), is the near real-time conversation in a private, back and forth style of communication of two users by exchanging messages through a stand-alone application or embedded software (Rouse, 2008

Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is a software package designed to maintain a computer database for an organization's maintenance operations and human resources function (DeSanctis & Poole, 1994

Employees' Job Satisfaction
Various researchers and practitioners have provided their definitions of what job satisfaction is. However, some of the most common definitions describe job satisfaction as a psychological, behavioural and occupational response by employees' towards fulfilment at their job. It is an expression of an employee of a particular segment of the work (For instance, reward, authority, peers). Kumar (2002) has defined the job satisfaction is a significant principle for the success of an organization where it is closely associated with life satisfaction.
That means employees satisfaction is directly proportional to organizational performance.
Therefore, employees can make or break an organization (Deal, 2007). Brief & Weiss (2002) defined job satisfaction as "a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the perception by the individual of his/her job as implementing or allowing realizing significant values available in the work, provided that these values are consistent with his/her needs" (p.282). According to this definition that job satisfaction is the somewhat subjective person to person. Weiss, (2002) also defines the same concept of" job satisfaction represents a person's evaluation of his or her job and work context (pp. 173). Satisfaction depends on the level of discrepancy between people expect to receive and what they experience. Further Locke, (1976) defines job satisfaction as really a collection of attitudes about specific facets of the job. Employee satisfaction is equivalent to the expectations of the employee about the workplace and his attitudes towards his job. So, job satisfaction is also a moral obligation in many societies. Gradually it can conclude that job satisfaction is subjective, 'a happy worker is a productive worker.
The importance of job satisfaction for any organization is huge as it is linked to many variables, including productivity, absenteeism, turnover, etc. It is significant because a person's attitude and beliefs may affect his or her behavior (Saleem, Majeed, Aziz, & Usman, 2013). If the employees in an organization satisfied with their job it will lower turnover, higher productivity, increased customer satisfaction, employee absenteeism, helps to earn higher revenues, satisfied employees tend to handle pressure (Okwudili, 2012). Therefore if the company has satisfied employee base, that is the strength of the company. Perceived job satisfaction was measured by Epure, Ionescu, & Nancu, (2013) using six dimensions, respectively named as working conditions, promotion opportunities, frequency of training, wage and compensations schemes, employee fluctuation and importance of work within the organization in there research study. As well as according to Multi-Motivation Theory (Murasugi and Miki 1990), which was developed in Japan based on Maslow's (1954) and Herzberg's (1968) work motivation theories, that employees are motivated by four factors. They are working conditions, interpersonal relations, satisfaction with job content, and company policy.
Communication, as well, was a subject of interest to many researchers who discussed its impact on employee's job satisfaction. The results of (Jacobs, Yuo, & Chavez, January 2016)

Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses
As Points outs by (Balouch & Hassan, 2014) modern management science's philosophy considers job satisfaction as a baseline standard of satisfaction reported by many different characteristics of work and the workplace. There are various features of the work and the workplace that valued to job satisfaction. Researchers have attempted to explain the effects of CMC using different theories. From media richness theory Daft & Lengel, (1986) suggests that email is a leaner medium due to the text-based and asynchronous nature of e-mail. The impact of communication channel satisfaction, personality, and job satisfaction could be explored from a social influence perspective (Fulk, Schmitz, and Steinfield, 1990), or a media richness perspective to better predict how each variable will influence job satisfaction of teleworking employees (Waldeck, Seibold, & Flanagin, 2004). The other study by Cameron & Webster (2005) used the media richness theory to investigate why employees use IM at work. To attain a better understanding of how advanced CMMS trigger satisfaction amid their resource (employees) hereby refer to Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) to describe the process by which people incorporate advanced technologies into their work practices (Gopal, Bostrom & Chin, 1993). Once applied, technologies should trigger a structural change in terms of productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction to individuals and organizations (DeSanctis & Poole, 1994). Therefore, the present study developed the conceptual framework (figure 1) to investigate the impact of email, instant messaging and CMMS in the workplace and its correlation with two core concepts of media choice theories: media richness, social influence, and adaptive structuration theory (AST). Bob & Sooknanan, (2014) and Urquhart, Bommelje, & Schmid, (2002) found that there is a positive relationship between CMC dimension of email with job satisfaction. Based on the findings of Bob & Sooknanan, (2014), it is evident that the majority of employees felt that email usage had increased productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Mukahi, Nakamura, & Not, (2003) states that email usage is highly important for employees individually as well as for the performance of the organisation and those organizations managing CMC well. The findings of all these research show that electronic mail usage strongly affects an employee's job satisfaction. Based on the aforementioned arguments, the following hypothesis is formulated, H 1 : There is a positive impact of electronic mails on job satisfaction.

Instant Messaging and Job Satisfaction
As claims of Iskandar, Arham, & Shohaime, (2017) there is a significant relationship between the uses of instant messaging with performance. Instant messaging is one of the more prominent computer-mediated communications which can boost an instant reaction, similar to face to face communication Ou, Sia, & Hui, (2013) and Cameron & Webster, (2005) described instant messaging allows employees to communicate in real-time and shows those who are online and currently available to receive messages. Lee, ( 2011) found in her research which has been conducted to understand the potential impact of using IM in the workplace, the position power of the IM jointly influence employee satisfaction and subjective task complexity. Based on the above discussion following hypothesis is proposed.
H 2: There is a positive impact of instant messaging on job satisfaction.

Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Job Satisfaction
According to the findings of Higgins, Brautigam, & Mobley, (1995) says that electronic communication between offices in an organization improve with CMMS because they can send work assignments to maintenance workforce through mobile devices and so they can operate more efficiently in the field, for timely completion of required maintenance and repairs. Even though prior empirical evidence on these relationships is less based upon the preceding discussion following hypothesis is proposed. H 3 : There is a positive impact of CMMS on job satisfaction.

The Sample, Study Variables, Questionnaire Design and Data Collection
Since Ceylon Electricity Board is multi-divisional organization spread over to every nook of the country, it is well recommended to do a descriptive cross-sectional research study to test the formulated hypothesis. The primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire and the secondary data was collected from previous research papers, the Internet and books. The researcher survey carried out with mixed-mode and it also included quantitative and qualitative questionnaires. Face to face interview would be helped to identify existing issues and base on that research has been created the questionnaire. The study selected executive and medium level technical service (MLTS) staff of the transmission division of CEB as the population of the study, while executive and medium level technical staff grade employees of Western and Southern provinces are the sample in this research. Simple random sampling method was applied to select the managerial level employee in the transmission division of CEB as a unit of this analysis. Out of 200 questionnaires delivered, 50 were delivered as a web-based questionnaire and the response rate was 50% and the remaining 150 questionnaires were distributed personally. However, 75 questionnaires were usable to the survey after the personal distribution as there were six incomplete questionnaires, while response rate was 54%. As such, the total of 100 usable questionnaires was considered for the analysis with a 53% overall response rate. A structured questionnaire used in the study consisted of three parts including the first part for the demographic data of the respondents, the second part to elaborate the background information of the respondents, and the third part relates to the hypothesis of the study.

RESULTS
Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used in this study to assess the predictive power of the theoretical model and testing the formulated hypothesis. Internal consistencies of the constructs were examined using the composite reliability index. Discriminant validity indicates the extent to which a given construct is different from other latent constructs. Fornel and Larcker (1981) have suggested using the average variance extracted (AVE) in evaluating the discriminant validity of constructs. Partial least square technique using Smart PLS version 20 was used to test the hypotheses, while SPSS software package was used to check frequency statistics of the demographic variable.  (2021) Discriminate validity is the degree to which any single construct is different from the other constructs in the model (Carmines & Zeller, 1979) and it is assessed by the test provide by Fornell and Larcker (1981) in which the pair-wise latent variable correlations between factors obtained are compared with the square root of the average variance extracted estimates for the constructs making up each possible pair as illustrates in table 1.

PLS Path Model Estimation
In Partial Least Squares (PLS) method, structural model and hypothesis were tested by computing path coefficients (β). Because PLS does not require a normally distributed data it is evaluated with R-squared calculation for dependent latent variables (Cohen, 1988)  shown in Table 2. (Fornell & Larchner, 1981) as shown in Table  2. According to the results indicates in table 2, it reveals that electronic mails has a positive and statistically significant relationship with employees' job satisfaction (β = 0.35, t = 4.68, p < 0.001) and there is a positive relationship between instant messaging and employees' job satisfaction (β = 0.16, t = 2.07, p < 0.01). The results indicate that the relationship is in the expected direction and the relationship is statistically significant. The relationship between CMMS and employees' job satisfaction (β = 0.46, t = 6.91, p < 0.001) is also positive and statistically significant. Confirmatory factor analysis is carrying out on the data to verify the reliability of each measurement scale of variables (Forza, 2002). Standardized factor loadings and outer loading factors of each item and the composite reliability and AVE value of each construct is presented in table 3. According to the provided guidelines of Bagozzi, Yi, & Phillips, (1991) the composite reliability of various dimensions is higher than 0.7 and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) is higher than 0.5 is accepted as significant levels. According to Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, (2007) generally larger loadings are the stronger and more reliable the measurement model. The factor loadings of the latent variables are high and statistically significant. According to the results of CFA, this confirms that the indicator variables and their respective underlying constructs are acceptable. The composite reliability values of the study constructs also reveal that the measurement model is reliable.

DISCUSSION
The main aim of this research is to examine how computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems such as e-mails, IMs, CMMS impact on job satisfaction of employees in Ceylon Electricity Board. The results of the study confirmed a positive and significant impact of electronic mails on the job satisfaction of employees. This finding is in line with the findings of Bob & Sooknanan, (2014); and Urquhart, Bommelje, & Schmid, (2002). Moreover, based on the findings of Bob & Sooknanan, (2014), it is evident that the majority of employees felt that email usage had increased productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Based on Mukahi, Nakamura, & Not, (2003)  significant impact is found between instant messaging (IM) and job satisfaction. Many of the studies (Chang & Wan-Zheng, 2014) suggest that IM impact to the employees' job satisfaction. Further, they suggest that the management team of an organization should try to construct a new organizational culture of using IM for communication and problemsolving. Also as a support for these findings, Mahatanankoon, (2010) expresses that instant messaging leads to creativity and influence to increase job satisfaction.
As claims of Iskandar, Arham, & Shohaime, (2017) there is a significant relationship between the uses of instant messaging with performance. Instant messaging is one of the more prominent computer-mediated communications which can boost an instant reaction, similar to face to face communication. Ou, Sia, & Hui, (2013) and Cameron & Webster, (2005) described instant messaging allows employees to communicate in real-time and shows those who are online and currently available to receive messages.
According to the findings of the research two dimensions of electronic mails and CMMS have a positive significant impact on job satisfaction. Since CMMS is implemented only in the Transmission division of CEB, these findings will help higher management to step forward for CMMS implementation in other divisions of the CEB also. As well as these results show that investing in CMMS implementation in the organization is worth it. Therefore managers can pay more attention to developing facilities for electronic mailing and CMMS without any hesitation. Rastegari & Mobin, (2016) says that electronic communication between offices in an organization improve with CMMS because they can send work assignments to maintenance workforce through mobile devices and so they can operate more efficiently in the field, for timely completion of required maintenance and repairs. So these findings help managers to decide whether they can extend their communications tools of CMMS to increase job satisfaction more.

Managerial Implications
Quaresma, da Silva, & Marreiros, (2013) empirically studied the use of e-mail in an organizational context, using a sample of the Portuguese population with an active e-mail account assigned by the employer. The results show that most users have what is considered appropriate behavior and show a positive significant impact on job satisfaction. Therefore it consists of previous studies this study also positively related to empirical study. Therefore according to these findings, the managers should consider solutions for enabling better management of e-mail by its employees by paying more attention to email security. The responding speed, easiness of expressing ideas and work easiness in electronic mails are more important in achieving a higher level of job satisfaction. As well as the managers can understand by these findings there the user-friendly interface, good access condition, save and reaccess data and making good communication among the team in CMMS are more important in achieving a higher level of job satisfaction.
On the other hand, the results show that there is a positive and significant impact of instant messaging on job satisfaction. Therefore managers should have to pay their more and more attention to improve instant messaging as one of the communication media in an organization. Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which transmits messages character by character, as they are composed. More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP, or video chat (Lee, 2011). Therefore such findings imply managerial efforts should be paid to facilitate the good IM application than present to improve the employee's job satisfaction. Cho, Trier, & Kim, (2005) identified that IM as a double-edged sword. That means IM usage has both positive and negative impacts on employees job satisfaction and performance. Therefore managers have a huge responsibility to identify these negative impacts and get decisions to eliminate them. However, Cho, Trier, & Kim, (2005) further states that IM can usefully increase other CMC tools and create an effective and comprehensive CMC environment in the workplace, therefore, it leads to better work performance of employees. So academics can do further study to find a way to use IM more effectively and comprehensively in the workplace in future.
On the other hand, the study conducted by Iskandar, Arham, & Shohaime, (2017) one of the public service departments in Malaysia with 132 respondents found that there is a significant relationship between the use of instant messaging and social network with performance. Instant messaging is one of the more prominent computermediated communications which can boost an instant reaction, similar to face to face communication. Ou, Sia, & Hui, (2013) and Cameron & Webster, (2005) described instant messaging allows employees to communicate in real-time and shows those who are online and currently available to receive messages. Therefore there should be a proper mechanism to increase instant messaging usage effectively in the public sector in Sri Lanka somewhat advance than the present.