Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
Despite the growing body of research on digital innovation and the rich conceptualizations of the adoption of digital technologies, the outcomes of digital innovation have not been extensively examined in the literature (Kohli & Melville, 2019). In examining innovation as a field of research, Janssen et al. (2004, p. 129) outlined that “the virtually exclusive focus on determinants of innovation implies that too little attention has yet been given to the outcomes of innovation.” Interestingly, this also applies to the limited number of studies examining the outcomes of digital innovation. In particular, to our knowledge, the outcomes of digital innovation on intra-organizational relationships have not been examined. While there are several studies that have outlined the role of an innovative environment and/or innovative work behavior in influencing firm’s performance (e.g., Dul and Ceylan, 2014), there are very few studies examining the impact of digital innovation on work relations within an organization. Driven by this gap in the literature, we focus on exploring the outcomes of digital innovation in the context of digital gifting in the workplace and how this influences intra-organizational relationships.
In exploring digital gifts and gifting practices, we set this research in the context of China, one of the leading countries for the implementation and diffusion of digital innovations (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017). The concept of a ‘cashless society’, for instance, started as early as the 1950s as a futuristic projection in Western countries (Garcia-Swartz et al., 2006), but it is in China that most advances were made over the past decade, which is also where the first cashless society is expected to emerge in the near future (Abkowitz, 2018). The implementation of digitalization in China is led by the ubiquity of platforms such as WeChat and Alipay in every aspect of life, ranging from applying for micro-loans to settling driving penalty points. Indeed, a combination of the rapidly increasing market penetration of internet usage, with 802 million users as of 2018 (China Internet Network Information Centre) and the high degree of consolidation of digital service providers in China have enabled a rapid increase in the scope and pace of digitalization. In this context, many new phenomena occurring in China are bound to be novel in nature with yet-to-be-determined market and social outcomes.
In this paper, we explore new questions opened up by rapid digitalization in China by conducting an exploratory study on the impact of digital gifting – e-hongbao- at the workplace. Traditionally, hongbao (meaning ‘red packet’ in Mandarin Chinese) are red envelopes containing banknotes which are exchanged on special occasions such as the Chinese New Year (CNY), weddings, or other celebrations. The motivation behind the gifting of hongbao varies, including tradition, altruism, reciprocity, networking, or even bribery (Siu, 2001). With WeChat and Alipay increasingly emerging as the preferred payment method, an electronic red packet or e-hongbao function became available in 2014 to send ‘electronic money’ to one’s contacts. Within just four years after its launch, e-hongbao has become a popular way of gifting, with 768 million people exchanging e-hongbao through WeChat on Chinese New Year’s eve 2018 (Tencent, 2018).