Virtual work has increasingly gained global popularity in the business community, with virtuality becoming integrated into traditional office work settings. As the essence of virtuality comprises geographic dispersion and information systems (IS) use, the implementation of a wide variety of novel and advanced information technologies (IT)/IS as productivity and communication tools have fueled the trend in which virtual work permeates the modern workplace. Despite the heavy use of advanced IT/IS as an integral part of virtual work, our understanding on identifying the work dynamics between IS-related antecedents and employee work outcomes in virtual work contexts is still limited. Drawing on efficacy theory, this study focuses on two important IS-related antecedents within virtual work contexts—IS support for creativity and effective IS use—and their effects on job satisfaction. Specifically, we examine the mediating effect of effective IS use on the relationship between IS support for creativity and job satisfaction above and beyond the perceived usefulness and IS satisfaction, which have previously been recognized as impactful antecedents for IS-related effectiveness. To test the posited hypotheses, data were collected (N = 504) from an online survey platform. Using multiple mediation analyses, the study results confirm our hypotheses that (1) IS support for creativity is positively related to job satisfaction in virtual work settings; and (2) effective IS use mediates the relationship between IS support for creativity and job satisfaction even after controlling for perceived usefulness and IS satisfaction, which indicates the unique explanatory power of effective IS use for increased job satisfaction in virtual work settings. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

随着虚拟化逐渐融入传统的办公室工作环境，虚拟工作在全球商业界越来越受欢迎。由于虚拟性的本质包括地理分散和信息系统 (IS) 的使用，各种新颖和先进的信息技术 (IT)/IS 作为生产力和通信工具的实施推动了虚拟工作渗透到现代工作场所的趋势. 尽管大量使用先进的 IT/IS 作为虚拟工作的一个组成部分，但我们对识别虚拟工作环境中与 IS 相关的前因和员工工作成果之间的工作动态的理解仍然有限。借鉴功效理论，本研究侧重于虚拟工作环境中两个重要的 IS 相关前因——IS 对创造力的支持和有效的 IS 使用——及其对工作满意度的影响。具体而言，我们研究了有效 IS 使用对 IS 对创造力的支持和工作满意度之间关系的中介效应，超出了感知有用性和 IS 满意度，这在以前被认为是与 IS 相关的有效性的有影响力的前因。为了测试假设的假设，从在线调查平台收集了数据（N = 504）。使用多重中介分析，研究结果证实了我们的假设：（1）IS 对创造力的支持与虚拟工作环境中的工作满意度呈正相关；(2) 即使在控制感知有用性和 IS 满意度之后，有效的 IS 使用也介导了 IS 对创造力和工作满意度的支持之间的关系，这表明有效的 IS 使用对提高虚拟工作环境中的工作满意度具有独特的解释力。讨论了对理论和实践的影响。