This quantitative study examines the interaction between technology-based instant messaging applications (technology applications) and employee engagement. Technology applications are frequently used as a mode of communication between managers and employees. Internal communication is cited as an antecedent of employee engagement and employee engagement is positively correlated with productivity and organisational success. Hence, the study is directed at understanding the impact of communication technology on employee engagement, due to the indirect link between internal communication and organisational success. In the current context of the global Covid-19 pandemic, this topic is of renewed interest as leaders and employees grapple with new ways of working and communicating. The existing literature provides contradictory conclusions on the relationship between technology use and employee outcomes. A quantitative, deductive approach was adopted to measure (i) the relationship between the frequency of use of technology applications (independent variable) and the antecedents of employee engagement (psychological climate, affective commitment, perceived supervisor support), (ii) frequency of use of technology applications as a moderating variable on the relationship between the antecedents of employee engagement and employee engagement (meaningfulness, safety, availability) and (iii) frequency of use of technology applications as a moderating variable on the relationship between the employee engagement and the outcomes of employee engagement (discretionary effort and intention to turnover). The correlation test revealed a weak correlation between frequency of use of technology applications and the antecedents of employee engagement. The moderated regression analysis revealed that frequency of use of technology applications does not moderate the relationship between (i) the antecedents of employee engagement and employee engagement (meaningfulness, safety, availability), and (ii) the relationship between the employee engagement and the outcomes of employee engagement (discretionary effort and intention to turnover). The findings have relevance for academic research and practical implications for managers. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The threat of government and corporate surveillance around the world, as well as the publicity surrounding major cybersecurity attacks, have increased interest in secure and private end-to-end communications. In response to this demand, numerous secure messaging applications have been developed in recent years. These applications have been welcomed and publically used not just by political activists and journalists but by everyday users as well. Most of these popular secure messaging applications are usable because they hide many of the details of how encryption is provided. The strength of the security properties of these applications relies on the authentication ceremony, wherein users validate the keys being used for encryption that is exchanged through the service providers. The validation process typically involves verifying the fingerprints of encryption keys to protect the communication from being intercepted.In this dissertation, we explore how to help users enhance the privacy of their communica- tions, with a particular focus on secure messaging applications. First, we explore whether secure messaging applications are meeting the security and privacy needs of their users, especially in countries that practice censorship and restrict civil liberties, including blocking access to social media and communication applications. Second, we studied existing popular secure messaging applications to explore how users interact with these applications and how well they are using the authentication ceremony during lab studies. Third, we applied design principles to improve the interfaces for the authentication ceremony, and also to help users find and perform the authentication ceremony faster. Forth, we applied the lessons from our interviews with participants in our user studies to help users comprehend the importance of authentication. As part of the effort, we developed an authentication ceremony using social media accounts to map key fingerprints to social features, pushing the ceremony to a more natural domain for users. We modified the Signal secure messaging application to include this social authentication ceremony and used a user study to compare this method to other common methods. We found that social authentication has some promising features, but that social media companies are too distrusted by users. Based on our results, we make several recommendations to improve the use of security and privacy features in secure messaging applications and outline areas for future work.

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Submitted by XUGUI LIU (liuxugui@gmail.com) on 2018-01-22T15:35:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Informação-Liu-dissertação.pdf: 3179607 bytes, checksum: 0c9b17276caa45a594380235ef6f1354 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Mayara Costa de Sousa (mayara.sousa@fgv.br) on 2018-01-22T15:52:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Informação-Liu-dissertação.pdf: 3179607 bytes, checksum: 0c9b17276caa45a594380235ef6f1354 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-22T17:39:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Informação-Liu-dissertação.pdf: 3179607 bytes, checksum: 0c9b17276caa45a594380235ef6f1354 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-18 / This project seeks to investigate the Paggi case, the first and only company that currently adopts payments through the messaging application in Brazil. This payment model leveraged the critical mass of messaging application users and thus achieved a lot of success in China. Besides China, countries like the United States and India are also beginning to implement this payment model. Thus, it is interesting to study this pioneering case in Brazil, where there is a high demand for the use of messaging applications. The main objective of this work is to discover the similarities and differences in the evolution of the payment model through the messaging application between the two companies selected from Brazil and China through the short-term evolutionary metrics. To Achieve this objective, interviews, documents, and publications analyzes were carried out to compare the similarities and differences regarding the evolution of the payment model of the two companies. It is hoped that the results found in this study could contribute to those interested in the Mobile Payments market, including those called Fintechs and also the messaging application companies that are looking to expand their platform and service lines, as follows: (1) to better understand the similarities and differences in the business model and the evolution of payment through messaging application between suppliers in these countries, (2) to offer recommendations for new entrants in this market in Brazil, to better structure their value propositions to customers, and (3) to identify the difficulties and facilities to implement this mobile payment model in the Brazilian market. / Este projeto busca investigar o caso Paggi, a primeira e a única empresa que, atualmente, adota pagamentos por meio de aplicativo de mensagens no Brasil. Esse modelo de pagamento aproveitou a massa crítica de usuários dos aplicativos de mensagens e, assim, obteve muito sucessos na China. Além da China, países como Estados Unidos e Índia também estão começando a implantar esse modelo de pagamento. Dessa forma, é interessante estudar esse caso pioneiro no Brasil, onde há uma alta demanda de uso de aplicativos de mensagens. O objetivo central deste trabalho é descobrir as similaridades e as diferenças em relação à evolução do modelo de pagamento por meio de aplicativo de mensagens entre as duas empresas selecionadas no Brasil e na China, com base em métricas evolucionais de curto prazo. Para atingir esse objetivo, foram realizadas entrevistas, análises de documentos e publicações, com a finalidade de comparar e analisar as similaridades e diferenças em relação ao modelo de negócios e a evolução do modelo de pagamento das duas empresas. Espera-se que os resultados encontrados neste estudo possam contribuir para os interessados no mercado de Mobile Payments, inclusive, as denominados Fintechs e também, as empresas de aplicativos de mensagens que buscam expandir sua plataforma e linhas de serviços, da seguinte maneira: (1) compreender melhor as similaridades e diferenças no modelo de negócios e na evolução do pagamento por meio de aplicativo de mensagens entre fornecedores desses países, (2) oferecer recomendações para novos entrantes nesse mercado, no Brasil, a melhor estruturar suas propostas de valor a clientes e (3) identificar as dificuldades e facilidades de implantar desse modelo de pagamento móvel no mercado brasileiro.