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One of the basic goals of universities is to provide enabling environment for the
conduct of research and dissemination of knowledge for societal/national
development (Ani, 2013). Over the last two decades, the Internet and related
computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies have become increasingly
central to scientific work. CMC is a process in which human data interaction occur;
through one or more networked telecommunication systems. It is imperative that the
use of CMC in research is one of the major shifts in processes of scientific knowledge
production. Therefore, a sound understanding of how academics use the CMC in their
scholarly activities is important. However, there is a dearth of studies on the
relationship between the use of CMC and research praductivity in university academia
from a theoretical perspective. No evidence was found on the impact of the use of
CMCon academic productivity in Sri Lanka and therefor this research contributes on to
the possible impact of CMC on academic research productivity. Thus this paper has
examined some of the literature on motivation and performance of academics in the
CMC environment. Based on the literature and some initial interviews, a draft
framework has been devised by integrating the Vrooms Expectancy model (Vroom,
1978) and Task Technology Fit model (Goodhue and Thompson, 1995). Future research
will further test this framework to determine effectiveness as a tool to assist not only
Sri Lankan Universities to recognize and provide needs of academics to achieve
productivity increases in research and also the present study will offer suggestions to
the policy makers in Sri Lankan universities to develop a long term effective motivation
strategy to increase the research.
