Abstract
Fuelled by advancements in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), especially Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, organisations have integrated social media applications/resources into their communication mix. Communication is one of the most critical functions, a kind of lifeblood for today’s agile organisations. When investigating communication, although there is plenty of research into both external communication and communication in organisations, the role of social media in communication in organisations is an area that has been less researched. This research examines the role and impact of social media in communication in organisations, looking at the interaction between organisational members at all hierarchical levels.
Although social media capabilities can be overwhelming, organisations still engage with traditional media such as print, email, and face-to-face, relevant to their communication mix. Contrary to the belief held by some that social media will completely replace traditional media, it acts in a complementary and acceleratory role, filling in the existing gaps, and speeding up the communication process.
The biggest transformation has been in terms of the creation of knowledge-based, interactive, and collaborative organisations. This study drew broadly on two fields of literature: communication in organisations and social media. The communication in organisations literature was explored to situate social media within existing communication frameworks. Social media literature was examined to identify themes in the context of communication in organisations, for further examination. Drawing on the key literature review findings, an exploratory study was designed to examine the use of social media by organisational members, and the impact of such use.
For a comprehensive understanding of the facets related to this human-technology interaction, this study examined communication in organisations at both managerial and employee levels. The focus of this research was on the collaborations taking place between humans, made possible by the various affordances brought about by social media technologies. This research examined the use of social media by both managerial and operation-level employees, looking at the interactions among employees and with managerial staff. The study was conducted in a real estate construction organisation in India, with over 2,000 employees. The fieldwork was conducted in two phases. Phase one involved semi-structured interviews with 12 middle-level managers. The research examined the combined role of enterprise social media (ESM) and personal social media (PSM) in communication in organisations.
As an initial step, employees were classified as either high, medium, or low users of both ESM and PSM based on their frequency of use. This resulted in nine frequency combinations (for example, ‘low ESM-medium PSM’). These combinations were then used to examine the role of social media use frequency in formal and informal communication in organisations. Work communication also included knowledge-sharing between organisational members. This research also examined the relationship between social media use frequency and internal relationships, privacy, and stress.
Demographics-based such as age, gender, educational qualifications, and tenure variations in social media use were also explored. The research is underpinned by the Uses and Gratifications (U&Gs), which is a popular theory that explains users’ behaviour as directed towards the gratifications of their needs such as utilitarian, social, and hedonic. This research adopts a unique affordance-based approach to the application of U&Gs. Social media affordances such as associating, and visibility, are examined as factors that motivate employees to adopt social media for needs gratification. Based on the critical realism paradigm, this study adopted a convergent parallel approach, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Applying thematic analysis to interview data, results were analysed to examine the organisational approach to internal social media use. In phase two, a survey was conducted with a sample of 393 participants (361 usable). One-way ANOVA and two-sample t test were used to compare the role of social media use frequency in communication in organisations, and the impact it had on related aspects such as internal relations, privacy, and stress.
The results of this research indicate distinct variations in the use of social media, for communication in organisations functions such as work communication, knowledge-sharing, and personal communication, between organisational members. Affordances such as association and selectivity, were found to offer distinctive advantages to social media, and users were motivated by the fulfilment of expected gratifications from the use of social media. The organisation’s approach to ESM use was found to be highly facilitative, with top and middle managers setting positive examples through their own individual engagement with the platforms. However, top management were highly selective in PSM interaction with middle managers and employees, interacting with very few.
The study contributes to the theory by advancing knowledge in the fields of communication in organisations, social media, and U&Gs theory. It contributes to the communication in organisations field through insights into both work and non-work communication. It advances the existing scholarship in the U&Gs theory in the context of social media use within the organisational context. It adopts a unique affordances-based approach to the U&Gs theory, investigating the connection between social media affordances and the major gratifications associated with the U&Gs theory. In the process, the study further contributes to U&Gs by identifying additional affordances, rejection and status, and another gratification, security.
While examining non-work communication, the study also explored pleasure and entertainment activities between organisational members, both during and after work. The study contributes to the social media literature by the adoption of a unique ESM-PSM combined approach. Another contribution is by way of a frequency-based examination of social media’s role in communication in organisations. The research advances the U&Gs theory by proposing two additional affordances, rejection and status, and another gratification, security, to add to the three major gratifications already identified by researchers.
The research contributes to application by helping organisations in general understand the varying role of social media in communication in organisations among organisational members. It identifies the variations in social media use among employees and establishes the role of this use frequency in communication in organisations. It also establishes the impact of social media use frequency on employee privacy and stress. A high number of low ESM users poses a challenge for this organisation since it can potentially break down the communication process, significantly reducing the resulting gratifications for all types of users. The organisation may be able to alleviate the concerns of low/non-users by identifying and eliminating their fears of social media, introducing innovative measures to engage them with the platforms, and creating a balance between surveillance and social media freedom, to alleviate stress and privacy concerns.