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Page 1 of 16 Peer Reviewed Article Vol.11(1) March 2009 Effect of online social networking on employee productivity A. Ferreira * Centre for Information and Knowledge Management University of Johannesburg Johannesburg , South Africa aferreira@uj.ac.za T. du Plessis Department of Information and Knowledge Management University of Johannesburg Johannesburg , South Africa tduplessis@uj.ac.za The popularity of social networking sites is relatively recent and the effect of online social networking (OSN) on employee productivity has not received much scholarly attention. The reason most likely lies in the social nature of social networking sites and OSN, which is assumed to have a negative effect on employee productivity and not†¦show more content†¦Recent studies, for example, Golder, Wilkinson and Huberman (2007), Arvanitis and Loukis (in press) and Coyle and Vaughn (2008:13−17) concur that social networks are typical characterisations of human behaviour to fulfil the need to communicate and connect with people they know, meet new people who share a common interest, collaborate, participate and share information and knowledge as well as gain new knowledge. Generally, these are also the reasons why individuals engage in social behaviour via the Internet. To many, the Internet provides effective social networking opportunities and their online behaviour inclu des building individual relationships, expanding their personal network of friends, finding people who have had similar experiences, discussing common topics of interest, dating and finding potential life partners, staying connected to old friends or distant family and virtually meeting peers, including work colleagues, to discuss current issues or topics of interest. Page 3 of 16 2.1 Capital factors in the modern economy In the modern economy, Boase, Horrigan, Wellman and Rainie (2006:26), Acquaah (2008:1235), Arvanitis and Loukis (2008); Shalley and Perry-Smith (2008:23−24), and Wong (2008:591−614) identify some of the new factors that are becoming