1. Management College of Southern Africa
An Investigation of the Relationship between Use of Smartphones and Impact
on Productivity of Young Professionals in Mauritius
Vanishtabye Changea
MBA
2012

2. An Investigation of the Relationship between Use of Smartphones and Impact
on Productivity of Young Professionals in Mauritius
By
Vanishtabye Changea
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Masters of Business Administration in the
Department of Business Studies
Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA)
Supervisor: Mr Menon Ramasawmy
2012
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3. DECLARATION
I, Vanishta Changea, do hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my
investigation and research and that this has not been submitted in part or full for
any degree or for any other degree to any other University.
_______________________ ___________________
V.Changea Date
ii
07/09/2012

4. DEDICATIONS
I dedicate this research to my parents, late Mr and Mrs Baliram Changea. Their life
is a constant source of inspiration and courage - a priceless legacy.
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5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This MBA programme has been a very enriching experience. It was also a long and
tedious journey and required relentless efforts to cross the finish line.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to God, my family, especially my
brother Vijay, my sisters, Vimla and Nishta, my relatives, friends and every other
single person, for their support throughout this whole endeavour.
I would also like to thank my supervisor, Mr Menon Ramasawmy, for his precious
advice and guidance, during this research exercise.
Special thanks to the respondents of the survey, carried out for this research.
I have also appreciated the resourcefulness of the Mancosa administration team.
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6. ABSTRACT
Mauritius has seen the rapid adoption of smartphones both for personal use and for
work purposes. Consequently, it was very important to find out how such
smartphone usage is influencing the world of business and work in Mauritius. The
objective of this research is to explore the relationship between smartphone usage
and employee productivity among young professionals in Mauritius.
This research discussed whether young Mauritian professionals who used their
smartphone for work saw this device as a mobile office, which might successfully
replace their personal computer, laptop and office environment. Secondly, the
research aimed to show whether Mauritian professionals felt that their smartphone
helped them to improve their productivity. Thirdly, the research explored any
negative repercussions that smartphone usage brought to these professionals.
The primary research consisted of conducting a survey, on a sample, of 100 young
working professionals in Mauritius aged between 18 and 35, obtained through
quantitative approach and probability. The primary research results led to general
conclusions on smartphone professional usage. It was found that the smartphone
was increasingly being perceived and adopted as a mobile office by mobile
workers in Mauritius. Moreover, these professionals acknowledged that such
smartphone usage helped in increasing their work productivity. Indeed, the big
majority of these smartphone users claimed that their smartphones allowed them to
attend to work emergencies promptly, and be aware of any event occurring in their
work environment. The users could access any information, from anywhere at any
time. Thus, smartphone usage allowed them to provide better customer service,
carry out their job more efficiently, use their idle time more effectively and finally,
plan their tasks better.
However, smartphone usage took its toll on many users, who used the smartphone
excessively by continuing to work after regular office hours. This gave rise to a
worrying level of imbalance between work and personal life among many
v

7. professionals. A certain level of addiction to the device was also detected. Many
users confessed that they developed an anxiety problem, triggering fear to miss
important emails or calls. In addition, a large percentage of professionals also
recognised that they rushed to answer any emails on their smartphone. Many
admitted that smartphone usage for work became the cause of growing stress in
their lives.
The implications of such negative repercussions of smartphone usage were work
imbalance, which might negatively affect family life, stress and eventually health
problems. All the above could have an adverse impact on productivity.
To counteract these negative effects of smartphone usage for work, this research
came up with a few recommendations. These recommendations included company
policies, security policies and technologies to clarify regulations around
smartphone usage to make smartphone usage safe for employees, employers and
customers. Organisations should also invest in customised mobile applications and
effective smartphone strategies to better cater for their organisational needs. These
recommendations aimed at improving productivity and competitiveness of the
organisation.
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8. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page No
TITLE PAGE I
DECLARATION II
DEDICATIONS III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV
ABSTRACT V
TABLE OF CONTENTS VII
LIST OF TABLES XI
LIST OF FIGURES XII
LIST OF ACRONYMS XIII
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Background to the Problem............................................................................................... 2
1.3 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................ 4
1.4 Aim of the Study............................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Objectives of the Study..................................................................................................... 4
1.6 Research Questions........................................................................................................... 5
1.7 Significance of the Study.................................................................................................. 5
1.8 Format of the Study........................................................................................................... 6
1.9 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 8
2.2 The Smartphone ................................................................................................................ 8
2.3 The Mobile Industry in Mauritius..................................................................................... 9
2.4 The Smartphone User Experience in Mauritius.............................................................. 11
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9. 2.5 The Smartphone as an Extension of the Office............................................................... 12
2.6 The Impact of Smartphone Usage on Productivity......................................................... 16
2.7 The Repercussions of Uninterrupted Connection to the Office on Employees .............. 26
2.8 Potential Improvements to Smartphone Usage............................................................... 30
2.9 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 36
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 37
3.2 Rationale for the Research Methodology........................................................................ 37
3.3 The Research Philosophy................................................................................................ 38
3.4 Research Approaches...................................................................................................... 39
3.5 Research Design.............................................................................................................. 39
3.6 Research Strategies ......................................................................................................... 40
3.7 Target Population............................................................................................................ 41
3.8 Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 41
3.9 The Research Instrument................................................................................................. 44
3.10 Questionnaire Construction............................................................................................. 45
3.11 Pilot Study....................................................................................................................... 48
3.12 Administration of Questionnaires ................................................................................... 49
3.13 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................. 50
3.14 Validity and Reliability................................................................................................... 51
3.15 Limitations of the Study.................................................................................................. 54
3.16 Elimination of Bias ......................................................................................................... 54
3.17 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................... 54
3.18 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 56
viii

10. CHAPTER FOUR: STATEMENT OF RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND
INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 57
4.2 Response Rate................................................................................................................. 57
4.3 Presentation of Survey Results ....................................................................................... 58
4.4 Further Analysis of Survey Results ................................................................................ 99
4.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 107
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 109
5.2 Findings from the Literature Review............................................................................ 109
5.3 Findings from the Primary Research............................................................................. 112
5.4 Conclusions................................................................................................................... 114
5.5 Recommendations......................................................................................................... 116
5.6 Further Research ........................................................................................................... 127
5.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 127
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 131
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................... 150
Appendix A: Covering Letter ............................................................................................... 149
Appendix B: Questionnaire – Online Version ...................................................................... 151
Appendix C: Questionnaire – Printed Version...................................................................... 152
Appendix D: Cronbach’s Alpha, Item-Total Statistics ......................................................... 155
Appendix E: Survey Results Tables...................................................................................... 156
Appendix F: Data Requirements Table 1.............................................................................. 162
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11. Appendix G: Data Requirements Table 2............................................................................. 163
Appendix H: Data Requirements Table 3............................................................................. 164
Appendix I: Data Requirements Table 4............................................................................... 165
Appendix J: Data Requirements Table 5 .............................................................................. 167
Appendix K: Questionnaire Responses................................................................................. 168
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12. LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1: Questionnaire......................................................................................................... 47
Table 3.2: Pilot Test Feedback................................................................................................ 49
Table 3.3: Cronbach’s Alpha, Reliability Statistics................................................................ 53
Table 4.1: Connectivity * Gender Crosstabulation................................................................. 64
Table 4.2: Age * Applications Cross tabulation ..................................................................... 65
Table 4.3: Gender * Mobile office Cross tabulation............................................................... 69
Table 4.4: Phone calls * Mobile office Cross tabulation ........................................................ 71
Table 4.5: Phone calls * Applications Cross tabulation.......................................................... 72
Table 4.6: Phone calls * Work exigencies Cross tabulation................................................... 74
Table 4.7: Age * Updated of the changes Cross tabulation.................................................... 77
Table 4.8: Gender * Information Cross tabulation.................................................................. 79
Table 4.9: Update of Changes * Idle time Cross tabulation ................................................... 84
Table 4.10: Age * Work-life balance Crosstab....................................................................... 87
Table 4.11: Urgent matters * Responding to office emails Cross tabulation.......................... 89
Table 4.12: Gender * Responding to office emails Cross tabulation...................................... 90
Table 4.13: Changes * Responding to office emails Cross tabulation.................................... 90
Table 4.14: Changes * fear to miss important calls or emails Cross tabulation ..................... 92
Table 4.15: Changes * Switching off the smartphone Cross tabulation ................................. 94
Table 4.16: Update of the changes * Responding hastily to emails Cross tabulation ............ 96
Table 4.17: Availability to customers * Work stress level Cross tabulation .......................... 98
Table 4.18: Mobile office and Connectivity Crosstab .......................................................... 100
Table 4.19: Mobile office and Connectivity Chi-Square Tests............................................. 100
Table 4.20: Mobile office and Connectivity Symmetric Measures ...................................... 101
Table 4.21: Work exigencies * Work-life balance Cross tabulation .................................... 102
Table 4.22: Work exigencies * Work-life balance Chi-Square Tests................................... 103
Table 4.23: Work exigencies * Work-life balance Symmetric Measures............................. 104
Table 4.24: Update of the changes * Work stress level Cross tabulation............................. 105
Table 4.25: Update of the changes * Work stress level Chi-Square Tests ........................... 106
Table 4.26: Update of the changes * Work stress level Symmetric Measures ..................... 107
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13. LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Productivity .......................................................................................................... 16
Figure 2.2: Labour Productivity.............................................................................................. 17
Figure 2.3: Multifactor Productivity....................................................................................... 17
Figure 3.1: The Research 'Onion'............................................................................................ 37
Figure 4.1: Working in Mauritius ........................................................................................... 59
Figure 4.2: Age ....................................................................................................................... 60
Figure 4.3: Work purposes...................................................................................................... 61
Figure 4.4: Gender .................................................................................................................. 62
Figure 4.5: Connectivity ......................................................................................................... 63
Figure 4.6: Applications.......................................................................................................... 65
Figure 4.7: Mobile office ........................................................................................................ 68
Figure 4.8: Phone calls............................................................................................................ 70
Figure 4.9: Work exigencies ................................................................................................... 73
Figure 4.10: Update of the changes......................................................................................... 75
Figure 4.11: Information......................................................................................................... 78
Figure 4.12: Customers........................................................................................................... 80
Figure 4.13: Applications and Job Efficiency......................................................................... 81
Figure 4.14: Idle time.............................................................................................................. 83
Figure 4.15: Planning.............................................................................................................. 85
Figure 4.16: Work-life balance ............................................................................................... 86
Figure 4.17: Responding to office emails ............................................................................... 88
Figure 4.18: Fear to miss calls or emails ................................................................................ 91
Figure 4.19: Improving work-life balance. ............................................................................. 93
Figure 4.20: Responding hastily to emails.............................................................................. 95
Figure 4.21: The smartphone has increased work stress level................................................ 97
xii

14. LIST OF ACRONYMS
BPO : Business Process Outsourcing
CRM : Customer Relationship Management
ERP : Enterprise Resource Planning
GPS : Global Positioning System
HR : Human Resources
ICTA : Information and Communication Technologies Authority
IT : Information Technology
PIM : Personal Information Manager
SME : Small and Medium Enterprises
SMS : Short Message Service
TASW : Technology-Assisted Supplemental Work
VPN : Virtual Private Network
WAP : Wireless Application Protocol
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15. CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
The smartphone is a special mobile phone with computer capabilities and internet
connectivity (Charlesworth, 2009:32). The smartphone is one of the most popular
inventions of this century. In fact, according to Dow Theory (2011:1), 2011 global
smartphone sales have gone up to more than 100 million units, 85% higher than the
previous year.
The smartphone has become an increasingly important tool for work. According to
the 2010 Mobile Device, Management and Security Survey, 21% of companies in
the United States, had more than half of their employees using smartphones
(Riedy, Beros and Wen, 2011:3). Companies in Mauritius have also been
following this trend. Indeed, many such companies have been investing in
smartphones for their employees, to allow the latter to stay remotely connected to
the office. This has given rise to a phenomenon called the mobile office.
However, though employers saw the smartphone as a productivity tool, the
question remained as to whether this uninterrupted connectivity actually enhanced
employee productivity or eventually led to burnout and a fall in the actual
productive output.
This chapter presents an introduction to the study of the relationship between
smartphone usage and the productivity of young professionals in Mauritius. It
includes a background to the problem, the problem statement, the aim and
objectives of the study, the research questions, the significance of this study and
finally, the format of the research.
1

16. 1.2 Background to the Problem
The concept of mobile office became possible with the advances in technology,
which allowed companies to become fully digitised, with all data stored and
manipulated digitally. The first mobile worker was originally equipped with a
laptop containing some of the data and enterprise applications that he or she
needed to work from home. Internet connections, which allowed access to
corporate networks, were another major advancement for mobile workers. Later,
wireless internet connections and the smartphone, allowed an employee to have
access to his office items even while standing in a supermarket. For instance, the
employee received a notification on the smartphone the moment he or she received
an email. The employee could read the email without having to turn the laptop on
or even sit down.
According to D (2010:29), Mass-based market research firm IDC predicted that by
2013, mobile workers would number almost 1.2 billion, or 35% of the global
workforce.
In Mauritius, key employees have already started to receive laptops to work at
home and a mobile phone to stay in touch with the office. Gradually, Mauritian
employees are receiving a smartphone from their employers instead of a regular
mobile phone.
Managers are providing smartphones to a few of their employees, so that they
could stay in touch with them even after office hours, increase worker productivity
and improve customer service by keeping employees accessible and responsive to
customer problems and concerns (Luttenegger, 2010:259).
In companies where there are little regulations regarding the use of outside tools,
professionals have even started using their own personal smartphones to check
2

17. their office emails and gain access to certain office information while being out of
the office.
In companies, which have restrictions, employees are increasingly skirting these
Information Technology (IT) restrictions and security rules in order to use their
gadgets to help them do their job better (D'Arcy, 2011:19).
Moreover, with the rise of the Business Process Outsourcing sector in Mauritius,
there has been a shift from conventional 40 hours week to 24/7 service. Call centre
companies work on a shift system, whereby employees mobilise in the office for
24-hour availability to customers.
Other companies like those in the Information Technology Outsourcing sector or
the financial sector generally do not work on a shift system. Nonetheless, because
they work with customers and colleagues (often known as internal customers) in
various countries located in different time zones, it is essential that certain key
employees should be readily available whenever the customers or colleagues need
them to answer urgent queries, solve critical issues immediately or complete some
tasks under short notice. The success of such companies in Mauritius depended
primarily on the ability of the employees to provide prompt response to their
customers.
The smartphone therefore became an essential tool to achieve this end. Employees
could still attend to urgent emails or tasks even when they were away from the
office, doing some personal work, after regular office hours, or during weekends.
However, smartphone usage for work could result in various problems. Firstly, in
many countries, employees spent considerable time using social networks while
they should be working and completed less work in a lapse of time compared to
when they did not have any smartphone.
3

18. Secondly, employees could delay some work that they could have done during
office hours because they know that they would have access to the necessary data
and email later on. This habit could lead to a decrease in productivity. Such
uninterrupted connection to work could be the cause of stress, burnout, health
problems and family problems, all of which potentially contributing to an overall
decrease in the employees’ productivity.
This study has therefore dwelled on the relationship between smartphone usage
and employee productivity.
1.3 Problem Statement
This research has explored the relationship between smartphone usage and
employee productivity. Companies are providing smartphones to their employees
for an enhanced productivity. However, the use of smartphones can have a
negative impact on employee productivity for various reasons. Thus, the purpose
of this research was to investigate the actual contribution of smartphone usage on
the productive output of young professionals in Mauritius.
1.4 Aim of the Study
The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between the use of
smartphones and impact on productivity of young professionals in Mauritius.
1.5 Objectives of the Study
The four research objectives of this study are:
• To investigate the growing role of the smartphone as an extension of
the office;
4

19. • To investigate the impact of smartphone usage on the productivity of
young professionals;
• To analyse the repercussions of uninterrupted connection to the office,
on the professional and personal life of the employees; and
• To provide recommendations about better smartphone usage, for an
increase in productivity.
1.6 Research Questions
From the above research objectives, the following research questions were derived:
• To what extent do young professionals see smartphones as an
extension of the office?
• What is the impact of smartphone usage on the productivity of young
professionals?
• What is the impact of uninterrupted connection to the office on the
professional and personal life of young professionals?
• How can employers ensure that smartphones contribute positively to
the productivity of employees?
1.7 Significance of the Study
No known studies have been carried out in Mauritius to investigate the impact of
the smartphone technology on workforce productivity. It was therefore very
important to undertake this research and determine how professionals were
adopting this new technology and whether they were using it in ways that were
beneficial or detrimental to them and their company.
The research may benefit both employers and employees in Mauritius. Thereafter,
employers may have clear information on whether the nature of their business
requires investment in smartphones. The research may also provide employers with
5

20. the necessary background regarding measures, which they may adapt to their
business in order to ensure that smartphone usage becomes favourable.
Employees may also gain from this research given that they may learn how they
can increase their job efficiency through sound smartphone usage.
Smartphone companies may also benefit from this research since they can get
information on possible improvements that would benefit companies using them.
For instance, one main concern is security issues. Many smartphone companies
have not tackled these issues, because they do not know what to allow and what to
restrict.
Companies, which develop applications, may also benefit from this research
because they can find out how to improve their applications or build new
applications to meet the requirements of smartphone usage in businesses.
1.8 Format of the Study
The study starts with Chapter One – Introduction, which presents the introduction
to the research, the background to the problem, the problem statement, the aim of
the study, the objectives of the study, the four research questions on which the
study is centred, the importance of this study and the format of the research.
Chapter Two - Literature Review summarises the data obtained from past studies.
This chapter attempts to research information regarding the four research
objectives of the research.
This will be followed by Chapter Three – Research Methodology that sums up the
research methodologies, which are used by this research, namely, the appropriate
research approach, research design and research strategy to choose. Based on the
latter, the target population is identified together with the correct sampling
6

21. technique and research instrument. The tools for data analysis, data validity and
reliability are also presented.
Chapter Four – Statement of Results, Discussion and Interpretation provides details
of the results obtained from the primary research carried out. The answers to the
survey are presented and discussed thoroughly. Chapter Four helps to determine
whether the study attends to the four research objectives and to identify the
shortcomings with respect to the latter.
Finally, Chapter Five – Conclusions and Recommendations comes up with
conclusions based on the literature review and the primary research results and
discussions, and brings forward recommendations to address each of the
shortcomings that were discovered in the previous chapter.
1.9 Conclusion
Chapter One serves as an introduction to this research. It provides the background
of the problem, which is being studied, the aim of the study, the research objectives
of the study and the research questions that the research aims at answering. This
chapter also explains the significance of this study. The next chapter summarises
the literature gathered for this research.
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22. CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This section outlines the smartphone technology, introduces the mobile industry of
Mauritius, defines the general smartphone user experience in Mauritius and finally
describes the worldwide change towards the mobile office concept and the
smartphone’s role in that phenomenon. The impact of this technology on the
productivity of young professionals is then discussed. Thereafter, the consequences
of such working style on the employee’s professional life, personal life and health,
are debated. Finally, recommendations for better smartphone usage are
summarised.
2.2 The Smartphone
The most popular smartphones, created by different manufacturers, included the
Android, iPhone and BlackBerry (Minton, 2010:94). They differed primarily in
their functionalities, the applications that were developed to run on them, their
operating systems and the networks that they used (Minton, 2010:94).
DeFelice (2007:30) revealed that 96% of the United States small businesses had
broadband access and 70% had mobile employees, with the mobile device,
becoming the ‘new pc’. Kelly (2010:22) pointed out that 60 million smartphone
devices had been sold in the second quarter of 2010 and these sales could eclipse
that of PC units by 2012.
Similarly, in Mauritius, out of more than one million of its mobile subscribers, 300
000 used a smartphone (Chan, 2012). This represented 30% of mobile phones,
which could appear to be a small percentage. However, considering that, as Reed
8

23. (2010) pointed out, it has only been 5 years since the smartphone were brought to
the mass consumer market in 2007, by Apple, it showed the motivation of
Mauritius to follow the trend of industrialised countries. Conversely, if Chan
(2012) had provided some comparable figures regarding the number of smartphone
users in the past years, it would have been possible to draw useful conclusions
regarding the adoption rate of smartphones in Mauritius. A report from the ICTA
(2009) claimed that the number of internet subscribers grew from 199 511 in 2008
to 203 375 in 2009. Moreover, while in 2005, mobile subscribers accounted for
only 34% of these internet subscriptions, in 2009, this figure rose to 52%,
reflecting the increase in internet access via the mobile phone and an insight into
the adoption rate of smartphones.
Some attractive features of the smartphone include Touch Screen interfaces, access
to email, built-in social networking and a quality browsing experience (Kelly,
2010:22).
2.3 The Mobile Industry in Mauritius
Mauritius has so far managed to keep pace with the dynamic exponential progress
in the global mobile technology, in terms of smartphones, tablets, mobile networks
and internet connection.
Smartphones and tablets of various brands like Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry
have official distributors in Mauritius, such that these devices land in Mauritius
very soon after their launch. For instance, the latest iPhone 4S was first
commercialised by the official representative of iPhone, Mauritius Telecom-
Orange, in Mauritius, only 3 months, after that it was introduced into the US
market (Le Matinal, 2012). The latest Apple tablet, iPad3, which, according to the
Daily Mail (2012) was launched in March 2012, was already available at a
Mauritian IT exhibition organised in May 2012, by the National Computer Board
and the Mauritius IT Industry Association, two official IT bodies in Mauritius
9

24. (L’express, 2012). Moreover, with vulgarised internet connection, many
Mauritians even choose to pre-order the devices online.
The rapid adoption of smartphone in Mauritius has thus been possible for many
reasons.
Firstly, the Mauritian society in general has reached a standard of living, which
makes such expensive mobile gadgets affordable.
Secondly, for the past decade, the Mauritian government has had as objective, to
develop the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) sector of
Mauritius in order to make Mauritius a cyber-island, IT and knowledge hub. Many
initiatives have been taken to reach that goal. For instance, recently as presented in
Callikan (2011)’s newspaper article, the government set up an ICT academy to
train professionals in the ICT sector. Moreover, the government collaborates
continually with official bodies and companies to organise workshops and events
like the Infotech, Orange Expo, Pro IT Exhibition and Conference, in order to
allow Mauritians to be up to date with new technologies (L’express, 2012).
Finally, Mauritius has also taken necessary measures to stop the monopoly of the
partly state-owned telecom company, Orange, in the ICT sector, which has enabled
many mobile companies, such as EMTEL and foreign investors such as MTML
and Bharat Telecom to start operations in the country. Such competition has given
rise to more products and services of latest technologies, at competitive prices.
Furthermore, the Information Communication and Technology Authority (ICTA),
a government body that regulates operations in the ICT sector, ensures that there is
healthy competition in the sector and that mobile services are provided at
reasonable prices. Moreover, according to Defi Media (2012), the ICTA, has
allowed other operators, which provide international telephony services and data
transfer between Mauritius and abroad, to gain access to the bandwidth
10

25. infrastructure of Mauritius Telecom, through its submarine cable fibre optic. This
measure aimed at increasing competition in the sector.
2.4 The Smartphone User Experience in Mauritius
While not all smartphone users in Mauritius utilised the smartphone for work
purposes, the smartphone was likely to be recognised, as a smart tool, with which
hundreds of interesting tasks could be carried out. Such activities ranged from
social networking, web browsing, playing online games and chatting, to watching
movies and videos online, listening to music and downloading.
Furthermore, the advent of several mobile services and applications came to
enhance the usefulness of the smartphone to the Mauritian user. One of these
services included the mobile banking. Indeed, as Mc Gee (2012) reported, the
Mauritius Commercial Bank was the first bank in Mauritius to introduce mobile
banking services to its customers and 96% of its registered mobile banking users
were already actively using the facility. Later, the State Bank of Mauritius and the
Mauritius Post and Cooperative Bank also provided similar mobile banking
services, which could allow customers to conduct balance inquiries, account
transactions, utility payment and other banking activities via a mobile handset.
According to Le Mauricien (2012), Orange also launched its Orange Money
services in April 2012 to allow customers to pay their bills, using SMSs via a
mobile phone.
Such mobile services turned such money transactions effective and hassle-free.
This explained their rapid adoption by mobile users in Mauritius.
Another breakthrough included the use of mobile technology by commercial
centres. For instance, the latest innovation included the use of QR, a two-
dimensional barcode that stored digital data about a product, which could be read
11

26. by smartphone applications. Thus, such data could trigger many actions on the
smartphone like opening of the product brand website, bookmarking the web page,
creating a contact for that product, brand or entry of a related event on the
smartphone calendar (Sobah, 2012). Moreover, the website of the commercial
centres would soon be undergoing revolutionary improvements to allow virtual
visit, to enable the customer to locate himself easily within the building (Sobah,
2012).
The smartphone has thus been quickly embraced by Mauritians because of its
amazing features, multimedia functionalities and applications, which altogether
combined usefulness, entertainment and communication.
2.5 The Smartphone as an Extension of the Office
This section provides examples of the mobile office concept. Moreover, the
benefits of the smartphone technology to both employers and employees are
discussed.
2.5.1 Email Access via the Smartphone
The elementary requirement of a mobile office is access to office email anytime,
from anywhere. According to George (2011:16), the use of smartphones has
allowed employees to access company emails at their own convenience. According
to Hemby (2010:106), the rise in the number of mobile workers contributed to a
projected increase in email from 18 MB in 2007 to an estimated 28 MB a day by
2011. A 2007 Cisco study reported that mobile workers relied on corporate email
to remain connected to the workplace and their colleagues (Hemby, 2010:106).
Moreover, most mobile workers believed that open and regular communication
with their manager was crucial (Hemby, 2010:106).
12

27. 2.5.2 Teleworking Using the Smartphone Applications
Another characteristic of a mobile office is the ability to have access to all the
applications and tools, which an employee would normally use on his laptop or PC,
anytime, and from anywhere, on his mobile phone.
According to Luttenegger (2010:259), smartphones allowed employees to stay
connected and work while away from the office, for example, for checking emails
while attending a child’s sport event. A mobile office, could thus allow an
employee to attend to any urgent work or personal matters while being away from
the office.
Violino (2011:24) rightly said that smartphone technologies have made it possible
for anyone to work in a virtual office, with anywhere and anytime access to the
information and applications needed to have a job done. Indeed, technology such
as tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices, desktop virtualization, cloud
computing, social networking, unified communications including video
conferencing, have enabled some companies to run nearly their entire business in a
virtual office environment (Violino, 2011:24).
Panko (2010:51) provided a good example of the use of the smartphone as a virtual
office. Indeed, in an article on the importance of smartphones to insurance agents
in the US, Panko (2010:51) stated that insurance claim adjusters would survey
damage on the road, take photographs and submit them to insurance companies.
Paramedics, on the other hand, would use applications to transmit information
when visiting life insurance applicants to conduct medical exams.
Panko (2010:51) further emphasized that when insurance agents received inquiries
from customers or prospects on the company websites, they could have these
moved directly to their mobile devices so that they could respond more promptly
when they would be away from the office. For complex applications, agents could
13

28. use applications to make notes. Later, upon their return to the office, the agents
could finish gathering data, enter it on their desktop computers and submit the full
application.
Moreover, many vendors, including Microsoft, NetSuite and Sage Software have
been competing to provide many types of Customer Relationship Management,
Enterprise Resource Planning and sales-force automation function to mobile users
(DeFelice, 2007:30). In addition, such software further increases the power of
smartphones.
2.5.3 The Smartphone: a Mobile Office within a Mobile Phone
The smartphone can thus be a combination of a communication device and a
mobile office. Segan and DeFeo (2004:92) pointed out that, while nowadays most
phones have at least a calendar, a few games or even downloadable applications,
smartphones went the extra mile to bring voice and data needs together, including
synchronising email, surfing the Web, shooting pictures and supporting hundreds
of third-party applications. A Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) consumer
survey found that awareness of non-voice cell phone features and services was
high among cellular owners and non-owners. Moreover, consumers who planned
to buy a new cell phone in the next few years were very interested in subscribing to
such services as email, internet access, Global Positioning Systems navigation and
music and video services (Palenchar, 2008:14).
Indeed the smartphone can be a mobile office in many ways. DeFelice (2007:30)
explained that smartphones allowed users to do more job-specific functions on the
go, like processing sales orders, typing in meeting notes, entering time and billing
information and even payroll processing. Moreover, some applications even used
GPS Tracking service to allow field workers to clock time from their job sites
(DeFelice, 2007:30). In addition, Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise
14

29. Resource Planning and sales-force automation software turn the smartphone into
an even more useful tool (DeFelice, 2007:30).
According to Roulo (2010:18), Blackberries, iPhones and Androids are among the
mostly used handled devices by contractors and service technicians. Some devices
gave technicians voice-activated driving directions, some had a camera which
could photograph problems, and some handhelds could even capture customer
signatures (Roulo, 2010:18).
Furthermore, many companies have rapidly redefined and adjusted their corporate
strategies to take advantage of this mobile office concept as revolutionised by
smartphone usage. In fact, according to a 2010-2011 survey by the Financial
Planning Association, about a quarter of financial planning firms used an
alternative workplace strategy, even though financial planning was a business,
which required much in-person interaction (Otero, 2011:70). For instance, a few
financial planners even worked from the gym, relying mostly on their smartphone
(Otero, 2011:70).
2.5.4 Usage of the Smartphone as Merely a Phone or More
However, some people still use their smartphones primarily for phone calls.
Delvinia's 2009-2010 study of Canadian mobile users’ behaviours found that 89%
used their smartphones for phone calls, only 28% for emails, 15% for web
browsing, and other activities were carried out at a lesser degree (Hendery,
2011:25).
In a study of mobile service usage in Finland, Verkasalo (2007:7) found that 43%
of the panellists regularly used smartphone applications for Web, Wireless
Application Protocol browsing, MMS and offline multimedia playback, and only
25% did not really use these features too much, indicating that they preferred
smartphones as conventional communication devices.
15

30. 2.6 The Impact of Smartphone Usage on Productivity
This section provides insight about key productivity concepts, factors influencing
productivity and means to measure productivity. Subsequently, the relationship
between employee productivity and smartphone usage is investigated.
2.6.1 The Concept of Productivity
According to Bernolák (2009:4), productivity refers to the relationship between
what was produced and the resources used in its production.
Figure 2.1: Productivity
Source: Bernolak (2009:4)
Bernolák (2009:4) further explained that there were two basic types of productivity
concepts and measures:
• Effectiveness type; and
• Efficiency type.
The effectiveness-type measures could assess whether the smartphone allowed the
employee to perform with the expected level of quality. In addition, the efficiency-
type measures could assess how much work the employee was able to achieve
using the smartphone within a specific time frame, as opposed to when he or she
had not been using the smartphone.
As illustrated in figure 2.2, labour productivity concept refers to the amount of
some goods or services of a certain quality produced per person-year or per person-
hour (Bernolák, 2009:4).
16

31. Figure 2.2: Labour Productivity
Source: Bernolak (2009:4)
Bernolák (2009:4) stated that the effective-type, efficiency-type and labour
productivity measures did not gauge the specific contribution of labour or any
other factor of production, but only reflected the combined effects of a number of
influences, such as technology, capacity utilization, level of output, managerial and
supervisory skills as well as the skills, interests and efforts of the employees. This
led to the understanding of the multifactor productivity measures, which referred to
the ratio of output to the combined input of several inputs, such as labour and
capital.
Figure 2.3: Multifactor Productivity
Source: Bernolak (2009:4)
According to Long and Franklin (2010:67), Multi-factor productivity referred to
measuring the effect of ‘disembodied technical change’, that is, those advances in
technology that are not embodied in capital.
The smartphone is an example of such ‘disembodied technical change’. Therefore,
organisations could use such calculations to measure whether the smartphone is
actually improving employee productivity in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.
17

32. 2.6.2 The Smartphone: Immediate Action to Work Exigencies
One factor of labour productivity is the ability to react to work exigencies, issues,
customer demands and other changes within the business rapidly.
In his article, McMahon (2011:4) noted that the use of mobile devices had become
an integral part of business life in the travel industry since they allowed dealing
with clients effectively by taking calls or dealing with urgent booking issues
immediately.
2.6.3 The Smartphone: Continuous Connectivity to Work Environment
Another factor that is likely to affect labour productivity is the ability to stay
connected to the work environment on a continuous basis.
In that perspective, the smartphone could provide 24/7 connectivity, and with only
one device, one could take calls, receive all corporate and personal emails, and
store Personal Information Manager (PIM) information, including phone numbers,
contacts, addresses, calendar, and to-do lists (Segan and DeFeo, 2004:92). In
addition, with the hundreds of applications, like PDFs and Excel available for
smartphones, one could perform many business tasks (Segan and DeFeo, 2004:92).
Thus, employees saw the smartphone as a tool, which gave them better flexibility
whether they were out of the office or after office hours and still did their job
(Luttenegger, 2010:259).
As Hilbert (2012) mentioned, flexitime, which has already been introduced by the
Government of Mauritius, in the public service, in order to cut down on peak hour
congestion, needed to be further improved. Currently officials only had the
permission to reach and leave office 15 minutes later. The Public Research Bureau
of Mauritius had therefore been seeking to convince the government to allow
officials to benefit from greater flexibility in their general working hours.
18

33. Smartphone usage could rightly be an effective instrument in the successful
implementation of such flexitime in the general working sector. Indeed,
professionals could thus start working from home itself and leave for office later to
avoid heavy traffic jams, which are prevalent in the city areas of Mauritius.
Moreover, employees, stuck in traffic, could attend to any urgent emails via their
smartphones. The need for flexibility has indeed become predominant in the
working sector of Mauritius, because in general many professionals need to travel
long distances to their work places and others, who are also parents, need to drop
their kids, before setting out on long journeys of 3 hours on average, to office.
Kevany (2011:52) stated that smartphones made employees more productive since
the employees could still stay connected to work, even while attending to their
personal duties like children school concerts.
In Mauritius, there has been continuous progress in the mobile network
connectivity to allow higher data transfer, download and upload in mobile
telephony, especially for the efficient running of mobile applications. In fact,
according to Leelachand (2012), Orange commercially launched the 4G network at
a speed of 100 Mbps in June 2012 at competitive pre-paid and post-paid tariffs,
and its competitor, Emtel was expected to follow suit in the coming months.
According to the Daily Mail (2012), this 4G network was essential to support the
high-speed 4G network connection that latest tablets and smartphones, like the
iPad3 and Samsung S3, offered.
Furthermore, while previously, Fiber Optic connection of 100 Mbps was offered
by Orange only and to companies only, in March 2012, Bharat Telecom launched
its Fiber To the Home (FTTH) network architecture to make fiber connection
accessible at home also (Donzelot, 2012). As smartphones relied much on wireless
19

34. internet connections, the FTTH would allow employees to benefit from faster
connectivity to their work environment at home.
Moreover, in April 2012, the government also set up several WI-FI hot spots of a
speed of 2 Mbps, of about 100m access, in the Capital and other towns of
Mauritius (Donzelot, 2012). Such connection facilitated employees’ internet access
via their smartphones.
2.6.4 The Smartphone: Right Information at the Right Time
The key to success in any business is to have the right information at the right time.
Information once obsolete is no longer useful or cannot give any edge over
competitors. Thus, the smartphone allows the concept of access of valuable
information from anywhere and anytime and represents a strategic difference in
day-to-day business.
According to Gebauer (2008:101), smartphones allowed support for planned
opportunism to make sure that documents and information were available during a
trip in the appropriate form when and where needed.
Schiller (2001:1) pointed out that today’s mobile office could be on a train, in a
conference hall, or even on a street corner. Schiller (2001:1) elaborated that users
could access key documents via a smartphone or tablet and stay in the loop, as long
as they had the right software.
In addition, getting information readily, gave the employees of an organisation, an
edge over competitors by providing them with more business opportunities
anywhere and anytime (Kevany, 2011:52).
One technology, which has revolutionised access to information via the internet, is
Cloud Computing. Lundquist (2011:4) explained that Cloud computing has
20

35. allowed the applications and data to exist outside the mobile device, and be
available from anywhere and from any other device. Box.net was one of many
cloud- based document management systems on the market (Schiller, 2011:1).
Founded in 2005, the company’s service let individuals and organizations move
document management out of the office and into the cloud, providing typical
document sharing functionality alongside complementary functions such as
controlling access permissions, commenting on documents, and organizing
projects and teams for collaboration.
The Cloud Computing technology were increasingly exploited by many
companies, including those which used smartphones for work, because this
technology provided a safe and efficient way to access and save information. For
that reason, Microsoft Indian Ocean improved its Cloud Computing services,
through its Skydrive application, to companies in Mauritius, to include up to 100
GB of data space (Donzelot, 2012). However, this article failed to provide figures
regarding the number of the enterprises that were exploiting this application such
that no conclusion could be made about the penetration of this technology in the
Mauritian’s technological landscape. Other companies, which provided Cloud
Computing services, in Mauritius, included Bhumishq Technologies and Mauritius
Telecom/Orange (Donzelot, 2012).
2.6.5 The Smartphone: More Effective Customer Service
Customers are the key to the success of any business. Therefore, effective
customer service is one essential ingredient of productivity. Moreover, continuous
availability to customers contributes to an effective customer service.
According to Kutler (2005:18), many finance companies had already provided
their out-of-office workforce with handsets equipped with useful customer
relationship management tools. Such tools modified and adapted to smartphones
are turning smartphone usage into important productivity tools (Kutler, 2005:18).
21

36. Indeed, as mentioned by Kutler (2005:18), the main benefit of smartphone usage
for travelling salespeople was that the salespeople could access valuable client
information in less time and with less hassle than having to sit down to boot up a
laptop and connect to a virtual private network. Thus, they were able to provide
better quality services to their customers.
Moreover, wireless communication allowed employees to improve responsiveness
and communication, both among themselves and with customers (Kevany,
2011:52). Such improved communication obviously made the employee more
efficient and effective in doing his or her job.
Smartphones have thus allowed professionals who worked directly with customers
to be more efficient and prompt in their communication and interaction with their
customers, and respond to customers in the way that the latter would prefer to
communicate.
Smartphones have also revolutionised marketing management and strategy and the
way that marketing is done.
In this perspective, Greengard (2012:20) pointed out in his article, that the tools
and methods required to connect with customers have undergone a fundamental
change so much that there had been a need for businesses to devise a customer-
focused mobile strategy and boost customer loyalty.
Greengard (2012:20) confirmed that businesses had rapidly taken advantage of the
specialities of the smartphone to give a new direction to digital marketing. And,
although all the technology pieces had not yet come together to create a seamless
solution, it was only a matter of time and that mobile-enabled commerce was
without a doubt one of the biggest, unrealized opportunities of the future.
22

37. According to Borg, organizations must pay more attention to digital marketing
tools, electronic coupons, proximity-based promotions, digital wallets and loyalty
data as part of their customer-focused mobile strategy (Greengard, 2012:20).
It was important to put analytics and big data to use, taking into consideration the
different groups and subcultures which would be reachable via mobile devices and
mobile platforms and target customers and interact with them using GPS data,
social media feeds and other tools (Greengard, 2012:20).
Parks (2011:4) discussed the use of smartphone by retailers for better customer
service such that retailers would provide consumers with fast and easy access to
their brands and products from anywhere. Dara Fleisher of Beyondtherack.com
believed that consumers with smartphones would drive the use of technology by
retailer for branding and for making an online presence (Parks, 2011:4).
Thus, smartphone has thus revolutionised customer service and customer service
marketing strategies.
2.6.6 The Smartphone: Office Applications and Productivity Enhancing Tools
The smartphone became a powerful tool thanks to the numerous tools and
programs that can be downloaded on it. Moreover, companies could also install
their own office applications on the employee’s smartphone so that the employee
can work on these applications from anywhere.
According to Gasulla (2011:67), for the past year, Ackerman Security Systems’
35-plus technicians had all carried smartphones, which they used for scheduling,
job costing, inventory, billing and service work.
Gasulla (2011:67) interviewed the directors and managers of this company who
claimed that the mobile program, which the technicians used, increased efficiency
23

38. of the technicians because it had allowed them to complete an average of eight
calls per day, compared to the initially four to five calls per day. Moreover, this
new system brought an improvement in productivity, given that it had caused a
reduction in fleet costs and that since then, the technicians did not have to come to
office every day to handle paperwork.
The types of applications installed on the smartphone depended on what each
company wanted its employees to do while away from the office. Some employees
would use the smartphones because they were most of the time on the job field,
away from the office. Employees such as sales persons would want to provide
prompt interaction with their customers, have access to valuable information about
their customers and products in real time and be able to modify information on the
company’s system from anywhere and anytime. Other professionals would want to
complete a task after leaving the office for a personal activity.
Kevany (2011:52) indicated that a research undertaken by a Canadian survey
company Ipsos Reid showed that the BlackBerry mobile solution provided
productivity enhancements, which enabled Small and Medium Enterprises to
achieve a Rate of Investment at a minimum of 256%, which equated to a payback
period of 142 days. Kevany (2011:52) explained that these productivity
enhancements were mainly due to the applications which could be installed on
smartphones and which made the smartphones so useful.
According to Meall (2011:54), accountants could choose from a range of
productivity applications and specialist financial tools to help them do their job.
Meall (2011:54) provided examples of such productivity financial applications like
the PwC On point, with insights on professional topics and the financial reporting
faculty iPhone application, with resources including a financial standards tracker.
24

39. Thus, one amazing feature of smartphones is the ability to download applications
from the internet. These applications can be office applications or other free or
paid applications that may help employees to become more efficient at work and in
everyday life.
2.6.7 The Smartphone: Making More Effective Use of Idle Time
The smartphone was also seen as a productivity tool because it allowed the user to
work from anywhere and during travel to and from office. Without the smartphone,
the employee would have been idle, unless he or she had been able to sit and open
his or her laptop.
According to Gebauer (2008:101), smartphones allowed effective use of “dead”
time to avoid work overload when returning to the office. Indeed, Gebauer
(2008:101) explained that the use of the mobile phone as a device “proxy” based
on the flexibility that was provided with the phone, allowed the mobile worker to
call the home office, to access Information System resources and ask to act on their
behalf.
Thus, smartphones allowed the mobile worker to achieve important goals without
investing much effort in locating or carrying specialized information or
communications appliances with them and allowed using technology for remote
awareness monitoring for both the traveller and the colleagues back at the
stationary office.
2.6.8 The Smartphone: Better Planning of Office Work
The smartphone also allowed better planning of job tasks by employees and
managers. This is likely to improve the productivity of the employees.
Gasulla (2011:67) mentioned that by accessing office programs on their
smartphones on site, technicians could plan and complete tasks remotely, thus
25

40. improving efficiency. Gasulla (2011:67) explained how technicians used daily
schedules and service tickets on their smartphones, and modified their schedule
accordingly to reduce down time. For instance, if he had free time during two calls,
he could look at his schedule a few weeks ahead and spot a customer he was
supposed to provide a service to in his vicinity, and do the work during that free
slot instead.
2.6.9 The Smartphone versus the Laptop
According to a survey conducted by Bloomberg BusinessWeek by the professional
social networking site LinkedIn, 63% of respondents cited their notebook PC as the
most effective tool that helps them to do their job, compared to 22% who identified
their smartphone (Hesseldahl, 2010:2). When travelling, 49% credited smartphones
with keeping them connected to the office, while 35% said that laptops boosted
their productivity (Hesseldahl, 2010: 2).
Meall (2011:54) mentioned that handsets are continually being improved with
better battery life, bigger screens, increased memory capacity and advanced
features, like accelerometers, Global Positioning System, gyroscopes, touchscreens
and high definition multimedia interfaces.
2.7 The Repercussions of Uninterrupted Connection to the Office on
Employees
The smartphone has thus given rise to 24/7 connections to the office. This section
discussed the implications of such a situation for the employer and the employee.
For the employer, an uninterrupted connection to work could potentially lead to
compensation and overtime issues. In Mauritius, like in many other countries, there
are no clear legislations regarding this type of ‘overtime’. The section also
discussed the impact of this uninterrupted connection on the office and on the
26

41. employee especially in terms of disruption of the employee’s personal life,
potential health problems and stress problems.
2.7.1 The Smartphone: Work/ Life Imbalance
Uninterrupted connection to the office through the Smartphone was likely to create
an imbalance between work and personal life, thereby disrupting the employees’
family life.
In a global survey of 1311 senior executives conducted by the Association of
Executive Search Consultants (AESC), 46% of respondents claimed that their work
and life balance were negatively impacted in the last five years due in part to the
smartphone usage, which kept them tied to work round the clock (Pomeroy,
2006:14).
An article by Walmsley (2008:12) mentioned that the BlackBerry and the iPhone
were contributing to the destruction of personal/work boundaries and a study by
Sheraton Hotels of 6500 executives showed that 85% took their BlackBerry to bed.
With the advent of smartphones, employers required individuals to check digital
devices and respond on a 24/7 basis so that there was no longer a clear division
between home and work, giving rise to work-life imbalance (Greengard, 2011:20).
2.7.2 The Smartphone: Checking Email Constantly
Secondly, smartphone usage could also have negative repercussions on the
employee if the latter constantly checks his office email and continues to work,
even after office hours, even if the email or work can wait for the next business
day.
According to Madden and Jones (2008) as cited by Hemby (2012:106), a 2008
study performed by the Pew Internet and American Life Project revealed that 72%
27

42. of all full-time employees have an email account that they use for work, and 37%
of those workers ‘check them constantly’.
Moreover, in an article in the Accountancy, Kluwer (2011:128) mentioned that in a
survey, 56% took their smartphones on holiday and two-thirds made themselves
available for work-related calls. The research found that respondents would check
their emails and call the office at least once a week (Kluwer, 2011:128).
2.7.3 The Smartphone: Fear to Miss Call if Smartphone is Off
Using the smartphone for work purposes has resulted into the employee’s constant
expectation of a business call or email.
A survey of SMEs revealed that most of Australian consumers did not turn off
their mobile gadgets such as Blackberries in order to take work-related calls and
messages (Pontikis, 2007:13). Most of these respondents even took these devices
during holidays while only a few turned off these devices during weekends
(Pontikis, 2007:13).
2.7.4 The Smartphone: Turning off the Smartphone Could Improve Work-
Life Balance
It was believed that turning off the smartphone could improve work life balance. In
fact, in an article in Personnel Today, Reed (2008:3) posited that the use of mobile
device could be so addictive for some people that it was labelled CrackBerry.
People could wake up in cold sweat in the middle of the night, desperate to know
whether the vital email was sent, reach over the bedside table and check their
BlackBerry for any response. Moreover, continuous use of BlackBerry mini
computers was found to cause repetitive strain injury-type thumb problems (Reed,
2008:3). In that perspective, the Canadian government sent out a directive to staff
urging a 'BlackBerry blackout' in evenings and weekends in a bid to encourage
proper work-life balance (Reed, 2008:3).
28

43. 2.7.5 The Smartphone: Respond Hastily to Emails
With the use of the smartphone, users tended to respond hastily to office emails. In
fact, Bischoff (2011:4) noted that addiction to smartphones caused people to act as
soon they heard the alert of an incoming email or text.
Bischoff (2011:4) further pointed out that this was gradually creating the
expectation among families, friends, colleagues, bosses and clients, that one would
be available 24/7/365. Such round the clock connectivity, could eventually cause
people to become burned out and could actually make employee productivity to
plummet (Bischoff, 2011:4).
2.7.6 The Smartphone: Increase Stress Level
Smartphone usage for work is believed to give rise to increasing stress to users and
their families, in many ways.
According to Li and Yeo (2011), as the 24/7 week phenomenon was becoming
increasingly widespread, more and more people were facing increasing stress and
distress, which affected the quality of their work life.
In her article on the problems of family members who spend too much time using
computers and smartphones, Bernstein (2011) presented technology use as the
leading cause of divorce.
Fenner and Renn (2010:63) stated that people engage in Technology-Assisted
Supplemental Work (TASW) when they perform role-prescribed tasks at home
after regular work hours with the aid of technological tools such as laptops, cell
phones, Blackberries and PDA. In a study, Fenner and Renn (2010:63) found that
perceived usefulness and organisational expectations were positively related to
TASW and work-to-family conflict.
29

44. According to Kachadourian (2006:4), over-reliance on smartphones could
discourage face-to-face communication and lead to misunderstandings.
Furthermore, executives who were constantly plugged in could also be sacrificing
their private time and family life.
2.8 Potential Improvements to Smartphone Usage
For smartphone usage to be productive, it must be done in the right way. This
section presents an overview of possible recommendations that could limit the
drawbacks of smartphone usage. There has been emphasis on providing training to
employees on how they should use the smartphone so that they do not disrupt their
personal and family lives. There were also discussions about how employers
should take necessary measures for investments in smartphones to become more
profitable.
2.8.1 Training
Fern (2009:30) recommended that training be provided to employees on how to
manage the use of smartphone and other IT equipments and infrastructure so that
the company can get maximum return on investment.
In Mauritius, stakeholders in the ICT sector, which provided smartphones and
corporate systems and solutions, organised many workshops and meetings, to
allow enterprises in Mauritius to discover latest productivity solutions on the
market. For instance, Microsoft Indian Ocean conducted several Customer
Immersion Experience sessions with senior officials of Mauritian companies on
Microsoft Productivity Solutions suiting each company’s needs (Orange, 2012).
However, Orange (2012) did not give any information regarding whether these
solutions were applicable to smaller companies and whether these sessions would
eventually be extended to all members of a company. Moreover, Orange (2012)
justified its emphasis on the integration of smartphones and tablets into its
30

45. productivity solutions by quoting international figures about the use of mobile
devices by professionals for work. The article could also have presented
corresponding local figure to give more useful information regarding the number
of Mauritian professionals who used the smartphone for work and those who used
the software and solutions provided by Microsoft.
In their study, Fenner and Renn (2010:63) found that people who applied certain
time management strategies could reduce the negative influence of TASW on their
lives at home.
2.8.2 Company Policies
Garrone (2011:2) recommended that companies identify groups of mobile users
that have different mobile information needs in their policies. These policies
should also address issues such as ownership, personal usage, professional usage
and security, and determine how these policies vary among the different groups of
users (Garrone, 2011:2).
In order for companies to keep their workforce satisfied and productive,
liberalisation of enterprise client technology, the blending of work and home, the
rise of the social media as a business application and the emergence of new mobile
devices, would all be inevitable (D'Arcy, 2011:19).
Companies would need to accept these renegade devices and build systems around
them to keep corporate data safe while employees would access them anywhere
from a variety of devices (D'Arcy, 2011:19).
This would be a win-win situation, where on one hand, employees would use the
devices they love and stay productive and, on the other hand, companies would
take advantage of the employees’ professional networks and productivity, and
avoid investing in these devices themselves (D'Arcy, 2011:19).
31

46. 2.8.3 Management of Mobile Devices Used by Employees
Sharma (2007:28) suggested that effective management of the company’s mobile
devices, including the smartphones, would allow faster consideration and uptake of
new mobile applications that come on the market, leading in turn, to increased
employee productivity.
According to D'Arcy (2011:19), for knowledge workers, like software engineers,
whose jobs involve collaboration, the right technology could make a big difference
and as such, enablement of employee-owned companion devices could improve
productivity and make the business run better.
2.8.4 Security Policies and Technologies for Mobile Devices
According to Meall (2011:54), the influx of personal smartphones into the
enterprise, and all its associated security and support issues, were difficult to
manage. Enterprise security solutions had become prolific (and progressively
easier to access and use). Tools such as Citrix Receiver, simplify mobile access to
virtual desktops and commercial desktop-licensed software (Meall, 2011:54).
Meall (2011:54) further elaborated that systems such as VMware's global
virtualisation platform (under development), would help enterprises to separate the
work and home environment on employee-owned devices. Therefore, according to
Meall (2011:54), even if the consumerisation of technology meant that personal
mobile devices were advancing more rapidly than the professional systems that
users would want to access, and businesses were struggling to manage and exploit
this proliferation, there were signs that these issues would resolve by themselves.
According to Meall (2011:54), the challenge for business, was then to look beyond
the classic trio of email, instant messaging and internet browsing, and assess these
new mobile computing platforms and their portfolios of applications, information
and services and understand how they could support the business.
32

47. In his article, D'Arcy (2011:19) discussed about the decision by some chief
information officers to encourage employees to use their own smartphones and
tablet computers with computer-owned devices to improve their job performances.
Such a move would increase employee satisfaction, recruitment and take advantage
of professional networks of their employees (D'Arcy, 2011:19). Indeed, instead of
finding ways to prevent employees from skirting IT restrictions and security rules
to use their gadgets at work, companies were finding new ways to secure and
mange employee-owned devices on the corporate network (D'Arcy, 2011:19).
D'Arcy (2011:19) pointed out that one third of employees daily used the mobile
devices to access sites like Facebook at work. As such, companies who prohibited
these devices and applications would only manage to inspire employees to work
around the rules.
In Mauritius, campaigns were set up to sensitise smartphone users and companies
about secure smartphone usage. For instance, according to Esmyot (2011), a cyber-
security conference was organised in December 2011, on the world Computer
Security Day, where important companies in the Telecommunications sector, like
Microsoft Indian Ocean, the National computer Board, Symantec Corporation and
Emtel Ltd discussed about strategies for protection of personal and confidential
data both at the corporate and individual level. Such workshops were also an
opportunity for these companies to educate individuals and companies about the
various security solutions available. Unfortunately, Esmyot (2011)’s article merely
covered the event, without providing any details about the strategies mentioned or
any information, regarding smartphone safety. Such information would have been
very useful to a smartphone user.
If Mauritius aspires to become a knowledge/IT hub, such articles, which cover
important technological events and news, should give sufficient explanations,
33

48. examples and details in order for any typical reader to understand the topic well
and the potential significance and benefit that it could bring into his life.
Moreover, in 2012, a department called the computer Emergency Response Team
Mauritius had already been set up by the Mauritian government to sensitise about
cyber security (Donzelot, 2012). Though such government’s initiative was good, it
should definitely have been done earlier.
2.8.5 Development of Applications to Suit the Business Purposes
According to Gasulla (2011:67), companies like Ackerman Security Systems and
ADS Security in the United States, had not only implemented mobile applications
but had participated in developing such mobile programs, along with their
respective software providers to enhance the performance of their technicians as
well as the productivity of other departments.
In Mauritius, important stakeholders in the ICT sector, including the government
took measures to encourage IT professionals to enter the niche of mobile
applications development for smartphones. Indeed, the increasing use of
smartphones and tablets in general gave rise to an equally increasing demand for
specific local information on services, shopping, leisure and geolocation (Esmyot,
2012). In that context, a mobile application development competition was
organised by the University of Technology and the Information and
Communication Technologies Authority, followed by a three-day workshop, in
February 2012, to bring together, systems and software providers, application
developers, and important stakeholders like Microsoft, Mauritius Telecom, Emtel,
Samsung Africa and the University of Mauritius (Esmyot, 2012) . The above steps
were positive, but the government had clearly been late and slow in promoting
such activities. Thus, the success in making ICT another pillar of the Mauritian
economy would entail that the government work on more elaborate strategic
planning, collaborate further with the private sector, provide more incentives for
34

49. local and foreign investment in the ICT sector, and replicate many more such
initiatives as soon as possible.
2.8.6 Reviewing Company’s Business Model
The advent of the smartphone has changed the way in which employees work, how
they interact with their managers, their colleagues and their customers.
Consequently, companies must alter their business model in order to cater for the
changes that the smartphone is bringing to the business and take full advantage of
the potential of the smartphone.
After interviewing the head of Ackerman Security Systems Company, Gasulla
(2011:67) brought forward the following key steps for making smartphones a
productivity tool in a business: analysis, planning and training. For instance,
Ackerman Security Systems Company, claimed to have spent nearly a decade,
exploring the mobile technology options for its technicians, because a device and
program that worked for one company would not necessarily work for another
(Gasulla, 2011:67). Moreover, the current system required one and a half hour of
training for each technician, such that the only difficulty lied in introducing the
device and program to the employees, afterwards, as the employees get
accustomed to them, it became easier.
Companies should take advantage of their employees’ professional networks
because two-thirds of the economy was influenced by personal recommendations,
and thus the personal and professional networks of knowledge workers were key to
their success and that of the companies which employed them (D'Arcy, 2011:19).
Moreover, D'Arcy (2011:19) rightly pointed out that new graduates coming on the
job market had grown up with the internet and would not tolerate locked-down
legacy operating systems and restrictions and social media use. Such hires of the
35

50. internet technology era would expect to use the devices that they love at work and
allowing them that freedom, would be crucial in recruitment.
2.9 Conclusion
This section firstly presented an introduction to the smartphone. Afterwards, some
current knowledge about the research objectives for this study was summarised.
This data was collected from past studies in various countries. Information about
how the smartphone was seen as an extension of the office, how the smartphone
has been influencing employee productivity, how uninterrupted connection to the
smartphone was affecting the individual and improvements to smartphone usage
were obtained. The next chapter covers the discussion that led to the choice of the
appropriate research methodology for this research.
36

51. CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This section justifies the research methodology and research methods chosen for
this research. Research methodology refers to how research is undertaken
(Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009:3). In contrast, research methods refer to
techniques and procedures used to obtain and analyse data (Saunders et al.,
2009:3).
3.2 Rationale for the Research Methodology
Research methodology involves decisions about the research design, research
philosophies, research approaches, research strategies and research methods.
Below is a summary of the steps followed in this research.
Figure 3.1: The Research 'Onion'
Source: Saunders et al. (2009:108)
Philosophies
Approaches
Strategies Data
Collection
37

52. The objectives of this research is to find out how many young professionals see the
smartphone firstly as an extension of the office, secondly as a productivity tool and
thirdly as a source of negative influence on their professional and personal life.
Such data is numerical in nature and can help to verify whether the hypothesis
about smartphone usage is correct. According to Pellissier (2008:19), quantitative
research is appropriate for examination of specific data from large numbers, for
testing hypothesis. For this reason, quantitative method has been chosen for this
research.
3.3 The Research Philosophy
McMillan and Schumaker (1993:164) relate research philosophy to the
development of knowledge and the nature of that knowledge. The research
philosophy includes important assumptions on the way the world is viewed and
these assumptions, support the research strategy and methods chosen (Saunders et
al., 2009:108). According to Saunders et al. (2009:108), there are four main
research philosophies namely:
• Pragmatism;
• Interpretivism;
• Realism; and
• Positivism.
According to Swanson and Holton (2005:19), the philosophy of positivism
attempts to get facts in terms of relationships between variables and use
quantitative methods to test and verify the hypothesis. Positivism claims that the
researcher will not affect the subject of the research (Saunders et al., 2009:113).
This research was based on the positivism (quantitative) philosophy because it is
external, objective, independent of social factors and structured. The research also
included a quantitative data collection (Saunders et al., 2009:113).
38

53. 3.4 Research Approaches
All researches make use of theory (Saunders et al., 2009:124). The extent, to which
the theory is clear at the beginning of the research, is determined by the research
approach adopted. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2004:148), there are two
main research approaches:
• Deductive Approach; and
• Inductive Approach.
In the Deductive approach, the researcher develops a theory and hypothesis and
designs a research strategy to test the hypothesis (Kotler and Armstrong,
2004:148). The Deductive approach is attached to the Positivism Philosophy
(Saunders et al., 2009:124).
In this research, the Deductive approach was chosen because it is related to the
Positivism Philosophy (Marczyk, DeMatteo and Festinger, 2005:32).
3.5 Research Design
The research design is the general plan about how the researcher answers the
research questions (Malhotra, 2004:74). According to Wiid and Diggines
(2010:55), the three main research designs are:
• Explanatory Research;
• Exploratory Research; and
• Descriptive Research.
This research has primarily been a descriptive research, although it has also been
exploratory in nature. Indeed, it has firstly sought to gather literature about the
39

54. phenomenon of smartphone usage in work productivity in other countries and has
thereafter explored this phenomenon in Mauritius.
3.6 Research Strategies
Research strategies may be used for exploratory, descriptive and explanatory
research, among which, some may belong to the deductive approach and others to
the inductive approach (Saunders et al., 2009:141). The strategy chosen should
enable the research questions to be answered and the research objectives to be met
(Wiid and Diggines, 2010:55).
Research Strategies could be categorised as Positivist or Phenomenological.
3.6.1 Positivist Research Strategy
The Positivist Research strategy is based on the Positivism Philosophy and one
example of which is the survey.
The survey strategy allows the researcher to collect quantitative data, which are
analysed quantitatively using descriptive and inferential statistics (Saunders et al.,
2009:144).
A survey strategy is normally used for exploratory and descriptive research
(Saunders et al., 2009:144). This data collection technique involves using a
questionnaire administered to a sample and the data obtained are standardised to
allow easy comparison (Robson, 2002:32).
The data collected using the survey strategy is used to suggest possible reasons for
particular relationships between variables and to produce models of these
relationships (Saunders et al., 2009:144).
40

55. For this research, the survey is used because it is an adequate tool to assess the
opinion of respondents on the research problem and draw general conclusions
about the whole population concerned in this research.
3.7 Target Population
A population is a full set of cases from which a sample is taken (Crawshaw and
Chambers, 2001:421).
This research targets young professionals who work in any sector of the Mauritian
economy. According to the Central Statistics Office of Mauritius, approximately
220000 fall into the age group of 18-34 (Central Statistics Office, 2010). Out of
this population, only those who use a smartphone for work purposes were chosen
for this research. This population was selected because the aim of the research was
to find out how smartphone usage was influencing the productivity of young
Mauritian professionals in general.
3.8 Sampling
To answer the research questions, data needs to be collected. However, according
to Clarke and Cooke (1998:41), it is impossible to collect all the data available, due
to time, money or access restrictions. Therefore, sampling strategy is used to
reduce the amount of data by considering data from a sub-group (Saunders et al.,
2009:150).
3.8.1 Kinds of Sampling
According to Cooper and Schindler (2003:183), there are two types of sampling
techniques:
• Non-Probability sampling Technique; and
• Probability sampling techniques.
41

56. 3.8.1.1 Probability Sampling
Probability sampling, also known as Simple Random Sampling, consists of a
controlled procedure of random selection to ensure that each element of the
population gets a known non-zero and equal chance of being selected (Sekaran and
Bougie, 2010:270).
3.8.1.2 Examples of Probability Sampling
According to Kotler (2003:137), examples of probability sampling are:
• Simple Random;
• Systematic;
• Stratified; and
• Cluster.
Simple Random Sampling involves the selection of the sample randomly from a
sampling frame using random number tables, a computer or an online random
number generator (Kazmier and Kazmier, 2009:3).
3.8.2 Choosing a Sampling Technique
According to Levin and Rubin (1997:297), with probability samples, the chance of
each case being selected from the population is known, and is equal for all cases.
Simple Random Sampling allows the researcher to infer statistically the
characteristics of the population from the sample and thus answer the research
questions and achieve research objectives (Lodico, Spaulding and Voegtle,
2010:217). Probability sampling is usually associated with survey or experimental
research strategies (Saunders et al., 2009:213). Therefore, for these reasons,
probability sampling was chosen for this research.
Simple Random Sampling was the probability sampling method chosen because,
according to Black (2011:226):
42

57. • It is easier;
• The data chosen does not have any relevant strata and therefore, does
not justify the use of stratified random sampling;
• Systematic Sampling was not chosen because it may lead to bias if the
data has a periodic pattern; and
• Cluster Sampling was not chosen because the population does not
consist of non-overlapping areas.
3.8.3 Choosing the Sample Size
The chosen sample size is 100 based on the recommendations of Salkind (2010:96)
who said that the most appropriate sample size is one which only large enough to
enable the eventual creation of statistically sufficient numbers in each subcategory.
3.8.4 Obtaining the Sample
According to Kothari (2008:153), a sample frame consists of a list of cases or
items of the population, from which the sample is drawn and is often carried out
when it is impossible to draw a sample directly from the population due to lack of
time. For this research, the first step was to obtain a sample frame, which is
representative of the population. Then, the final random sample was obtained from
the sample frame.
The following steps were followed:
• A list of all businesses, in the Information Communication
Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, Finance, Business and
Construction sectors was obtained from the Mauritius Yellow Pages
website (MT Yellow Pages:2012). Each of the business has been
numbered with a unique number;
43

58. • An online random number generator (Research Randomiser) was used
to obtain the set of random numbers to choose the organisation which
will form the sample frame;
• Each organisation selected was searched for on Networking Sites like
LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Afterwards, the employee of each of
the selected organisation was contacted via these sites. Visits were paid
in person to a few;
• Each employee was asked whether they were aged between 18 and 35,
and whether they used the smartphone for work;
• All the employees who answered yes to both of the above questions
were selected to form part of the Sample Frame. The Sample Frame
obtained was 300;
• From that sample frame, each case was numbered with a unique
number;
• The online random number generator (Research Randomiser) used to
obtain the set of 100 random numbers, between 1 and 300; and
• Those cases, which matched the numbers from the set of Random
numbers, were selected to form part of the actual sample.
3.9 The Research Instrument
According to Owen and Jones (1994:1), there are two types of data:
• Primary Data: Raw data has been collected in response to specific
questions, for the survey in this research; and
• Secondary Data: Data has been collected for another purpose. This
data has already been previously processed.
The questionnaire was chosen based on the Research Methodology, Research
Strategy and chosen Sampling Technique.
44

59. 3.10 Questionnaire Construction
The literature obtained in the previous chapter, and the four research questions,
were used as foundation to construct the questionnaire.
The investigative questions are in the form of rating questions. According to De
Vaus (2002:102), rating questions serve to collect opinion data, and use the Likert-
style rating scale, in which the respondent is asked how strongly he or she agreed
or disagreed with a statement.
A cover letter accompanied the questionnaire, which first provides the title of the
study and explains the nature of this research. The purpose and usefulness of the
questionnaire are later summarised, together with the importance of the recipient’s
response and time. The confidentiality and anonymity of the response are also
highlighted. Explanation on how the results will be used, is stated and the
respondent is thanked in advance for answering the questionnaire.
The questionnaire consisted of five sections:
• Section A
Section A contains three filter questions, to determine firstly whether
the respondent is currently working in Mauritius, secondly, whether
the respondent uses a smartphone for work purposes and finally,
whether he/she is younger than 35 years old. Any respondent, who did
not match any of these criteria, was not eligible for the survey. The
Data Requirements Table for Section A is available in Appendix F.
• Section B
45

60. Section B contains one demographic question about the gender of the
respondent. The Data Requirements Table for Section B is found in
Appendix G.
• Section C
Section C contains rating questions regarding the extent to which the
smartphone was seen as an extension of the office in the Mauritian
Office. The Data Requirements Table for Section C is found in
Appendix H.
• Section D
Section D contained rating questions to determine the impact of
smartphone usage on employee productivity. The Data Requirements
Table for Section D is found in Appendix I.
• Section E
Section E contained rating questions to determine the impact of
uninterrupted connection to the smartphone on the individual’s
personal life. The Data Requirements Table for Section E is in
Appendix J.
The table below summarises the list of questions, with their corresponding
literature source.
46

61. Table 3.1: Questionnaire
Question Literature Source
1. Are you currently working in Mauritius?
2. What is your age?
3. Do you use a smartphone for work purposes?
4. Are you male or female?
5. My smartphone allows me to remain connected
to my work email at all times.
George (2011:16)
6. Applications on my smartphone allow me to attend to urgent matters
outside office hours.
Luttenegger (2010:259)
7. My smartphone combines the usefulness of a communication device
and a mobile office.
Segan and DeFeo (2004:92)
8. My smartphone is used mainly for phone calls. (Hendery, 2011:25)
9. My smartphone improves my productivity by increasing my ability
to react to work exigencies as soon as they crop up.
McMahon (2011:4)
10. My smartphone improves my productivity by keeping me updated
with the changes occurring within my work environment.
(Segan and DeFeo, 2004:92)
11. My smartphone improves my productivity by allowing me to
access key information at all times.
Gebauer(2008:101)
12. My smartphone improves my productivity by making myself
available to my customers at all times.
Kutler (2005:18)
13. I use the office applications installed on my smartphone to be more
efficient in completing my job tasks.
Gasulla (2011:67)
14. My smartphone improves my productivity by allowing me to work
effectively during idle time.
Gebauer (2008:101)
15. The smartphone helps me to plan my tasks better so that I can
complete them in minimum amount of time.
Gasulla (2011:67)
16. Having an office smartphone negatively affects my work life
balance.
(Pomeroy, 2006:14)
17. After office hours, I regularly respond to office emails received on
my smartphone.
Madden and Jones (2008) as
cited by Hemby (2012:106)
18. I fear to miss important office related calls or emails if I switch off
my smartphone.
(Pontikis, 2007:13)
19. Switching off the smartphone at home will improve my work life
balance.
(Reed, 2008:3)
20. I tend to respond hastily to emails received on my smartphone. Bischoff (2011:4)
21. The smartphone has increased my work stress level. Li and Yeo (2011)
47

62. 3.11 Pilot Study
According to Naoum (2007:85), a questionnaire should be pilot tested, before it
can actually be used to collect data. A pilot test is done for the following reasons:
• To refine the questionnaire;
• To ensure that respondents will have no problems in answering the
questions;
• To ensure that there will be no problems in recording the data;
• To assess the validity of questions;
• To assess the reliability of the data which will be collected;
• To check the research methods to be used; and
• To ensure that the research methods, which are to be used, are feasible.
For this research, a pilot test was carried out with a sample of 16 respondents and
their comments helped to amend the final questionnaire. These 16 respondents
were then excluded from the final study to avoid any bias.
Based on the feedbacks obtained from the respondents, the required modifications
were brought to the questionnaire in Table 3.2 below.
48

63. Table 3.2: Pilot Test Feedback
Feedback/Issue Explanation Modification
No information
had been put
about the
definition of a
smartphone.
A few of the respondents did not
know whether their handset was
actually a smartphone.
A description of the smartphone has
been added at the beginning of the
questionnaire.
The answer
options did not
include
‘Neutral’
Suppose that the respondent did
not do one activity as mentioned
in a question, ‘he was enabled to
answer the question with an
appropriate answer’. For
instance, in the case where he
used his smartphone only to
check office emails and did not
use any applications for work
purposes, he was not able to
answer question 5 (Applications
on my smartphone allow me to
attend to urgent matters outside
office hours) correctly.
‘Neutral’ had been added to the
questionnaire options, for question 5
to question 21.
No question
regarding the
gender of the
respondent.
Literature about gender and
smartphone usage had been
researched. Thereafter, Question 4,
regarding the gender had been added
to the questionnaire.
Question 7 ‘I
fear to miss
important calls
or emails if I
switch off my
smartphone.’
was confusing
to a few
respondents.
The pilot user was confused
whether the question referred to
all calls/emails in general or
only office-related ones.
Question 7 had been changed to ‘I
fear to miss important office-related
calls or emails if I switch off my
smartphone.’
3.12 Administration of Questionnaires
Once the questionnaire was designed, pilot tested, amended, online versions of the
Questionnaire (SurveyMonkey), together with the covering letter, were sent to
each member of the sample, via email.
49

64. The online survey was chosen because:
• It was easier and faster to encourage the target people to complete the
questionnaire; and
• It was easier to monitor the progress of the online survey.
3.12.1 Collection of Questionnaires
The online system automatically saved the answers for each survey filled online.
These answers could be viewed at any point in time during the duration of the
survey administration. The answers could be downloaded in an excel sheet version.
A basic analysis of these answers could also be done by the online system and be
available anytime.
3.13 Data Analysis
This section provides a description of the statistical tests that were used to address
the research questions and hypotheses.
Firstly, the data obtained were coded, such that questions 1 to 21 were coded as q1
to q21, and the responses were coded as 1 to 100, as seen in Appendix K, which
shows the responses to the survey.
According to Mendenhall, Beaver and Beaver (2009:4), descriptive statistics refer
to techniques used to summarise and describe the important characteristics of a set
of measurements. In this research, pie charts and bar charts were used to
summarise the figures from the survey.
According to Leech, Barrett and Morgan (2005:53), inferential statistics refer to
deductions about population values based on the sample data, which has been
collected and analysed. SPSS 17.0 was used to obtain inferential statistics for this
research.
50