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1 – 8 of 8Ward Van Zoonen, Jeffrey W. Treem and Anu Sivunen
The benefits associated with visibility in organizations depend on employees' willingness to engage with technologies that utilize visible communication and make communication…
Abstract
Purpose
The benefits associated with visibility in organizations depend on employees' willingness to engage with technologies that utilize visible communication and make communication visible to others. Without the participation of workers, enterprise social media have limited value. This study develops a framework to assess what deters and drives employees' use of enterprise social media.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 753 employees of a global company using an online survey. The response rate was 24.5%. The authors used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized framework.
Findings
The results show that various fears by workers may deter or motivate enterprise social media use. This offers an alternative viewpoint for examining the consequences of communication visibility in organizations. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that the fear of accountability and the fear of losing uniqueness reduce enterprise social media use through increased codification efforts. The fear of missing out is directly and positively related to collecting behaviors on enterprise social media.
Research limitations/implications
Expectations about participation in visible organizational communication environments are rising. However, as individuals may experience anxiety in such settings, the authors need to direct more analytical focus to the ways individuals manage communication visibility in organizing contexts and develop a deeper understanding of the consequences of fear in workplace communication.
Originality/value
The analysis recognizes that fear can play a key role in deterring or motivating workers' specific choices in navigating the challenges that occur when technology can make communication broadly visible. This study uses theorizing on communication visibility to bring together different fear mechanisms to predict enterprise social media use.
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Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, Karen Freberg and Regina Luttrell
K.S. Nivedhitha and A.K. Sheik Manzoor
While the sizable body of research focusses on various psychological effects of enterprise social media (ESM), research connecting the link between ESM and cyberslacking is still…
Abstract
Purpose
While the sizable body of research focusses on various psychological effects of enterprise social media (ESM), research connecting the link between ESM and cyberslacking is still very sparse. Drawing inspiration from the social bonding theory, the authors have proposed a moderated mediation model to explain how ESM affordances reduce cyberslacking, mediated significantly by workplace social bonding when the perceived co-worker involvement is high.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilising a sample of 384 respondents, the study tested the model fit and hypothesised relationships with AMOS and PROCESS MACRO.
Findings
The findings show that workplace social bonding mediates the relationship between ESM affordances and cyberslacking. The results are also consistent with the moderated mediation model as the mediation is significant when the perceived co-worker involvement is high, and the mediation is insignificant when the moderator is low/moderate.
Research limitations/implications
Considering the potential behavioural dynamics of ESM artefacts, the authors have introduced self-expression (via microblogging), recognition (from paralinguistic digital affordances) and network externality as ESM affordances. Alongside the existing measures to reduce employee deviance, the proposed model with the above-mentioned affordances can be investigated in detail by the future research community.
Practical implications
In light of the findings, the study demonstrates that ESM can be treated as a mechanism to keep cyberslacking at bay. The results offer significant implications for managers, who lookout for innovative and soft strategies to reduce cyberslacking in the workplace.
Originality/value
Instead of implementing strict policies to kerb cyberslacking, this study proposes an alternative and an interesting model by introducing ESM as a strategic tool in reducing cyberslacking. The paper argues that ESM, being a potential tool for employee engagement and bonding, may offset the employees' tendency to involve in cyberslacking.
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Kaisa Laitinen and Anu Sivunen
The purpose of this study is to investigate the various enablers of and constraints on employees' information sharing on an enterprise social media platform. It draws on two…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the various enablers of and constraints on employees' information sharing on an enterprise social media platform. It draws on two theoretical perspectives, communication privacy management theory and the technology affordance framework, as well as on empirical data in an attempt to paint a comprehensive picture of the factors shaping employees' decisions to share or not share information on enterprise social media.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative field study is based on semi-structured interviews and enterprise social media review data from a large Nordic media organization.
Findings
On an enterprise social media platform, privacy management principles shape employees' information-sharing decisions in relation to personal privacy boundaries, professional boundaries and assumed risks, online safety concerns and perceived audience. Additionally, the technological affordances of visibility, awareness, persistence and searchability shape employees' information sharing in varying and sometimes even contradictory ways. Finally, organizational factors, such as norms, tasks and media repertoires, are associated with employees' information-sharing decisions. Together, these three dimensions, personal, technological and organizational, form a model of the enablers of and constraints on employees' decisions to share information on enterprise social media.
Originality/value
This study extends the understanding of different factors shaping employees' decisions to share or not share information on enterprise social media. It extends the two applied theories by uniquely combining interpersonal privacy management principles with a technological affordance framework that focuses on the relationship between the user and the technology. This research also furthers the authors' knowledge of what privacy management principles mean in the organizational context. This study shows connections between the two theories and extends the understanding of technology affordances as not only action possibilities but also constraining factors. Additionally, by revealing what kinds of factors encourage and inhibit information sharing on enterprise social media, the results of this study support organizations in their efforts to manage information sharing on enterprise social media systems.
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Ornat Turin and Shosh Davidson
The current study examines the ways preschool teachers handle parents' WhatsApp groups. The study explores the associations between professional capital, perception of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study examines the ways preschool teachers handle parents' WhatsApp groups. The study explores the associations between professional capital, perception of the application, and communication patterns with the parents utilizing WhatsApp, an instant message application.
Design/methodology/approach
A group of 214 Israeli preschool teachers were sampled using a survey questionnaire. The independent variables were two components of professional capital: (1) human capital, measured by tenure and income and (2) social capital, measured by the type of locality and the teacher's place of residence, in or outside the kindergarten's neighborhood. The dependent variable was the general perception of the app and the decisional capital manifested in the pattern of engagement with the pupils' parents.
Findings
In general, preschool teachers welcome the app, especially its ability to send pictures, while they disapprove of the constant intrusion it causes. Tenured and high-income teachers tended to restrict sharing a WhatsApp group with parents. Joining a group with parents was common among private, low-income, and non-tenured young teachers. In terms of social capital, teachers who lived and worked in a communal settlement differed from their city colleagues. Teachers in such communities expressed a much more positive perception of the WhatsApp application, in comparison with teachers from urban areas.
Originality/value
The results demonstrate the importance of professional capital in monitoring daily routine, communication, and emotions. The findings support the social constructivist approach, holding that technology affords a variety of uses and are integrated into the existing social structure.
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