The Type of Information Overload Affects Electronic Knowledge Repository continuance

In the present competitive organizational environment more organizations are implementing knowledge management initiatives to gain strategic advantage. One such initiative is that of implementing electronic knowledge repositories (EKR) which often leads to a rapid increase in the quantity of information employees must process daily, raising concerns of employees being overloaded. This is especially true for current EKRs using distributive technology, enabling customizable individual workspaces which can result in loose knowledge structures. This paper identifies a new type of information overload (IO), extending the concept as occurring in both knowledge seekers and contributors and uses cognitive dissonance theory to provide evidence that IO can change employees’ perception of EKR usage. This research paper provides the first empirical evidence that overload has no sufficient affect on EKR continuance intention directly, but has a significant negative affect on the two main success measures: Perceived usefulness and satisfaction of the system.