Examining the impact of workplace social media usage on organization
Tagged: Dissertation Writing
Introduction
Social media are electronic platforms that allow people to communicate, exchange information, and interact with one another. Social media technology has transformed how individuals communicate and interact socially within and outside organizations via the Internet, significantly impacting their employment and lifestyle (Holland, 2016). One such example is the use of social media in business and marketing, which is becoming increasingly popular.
With social technology becoming a given for businesses, more have begun to incorporate various social media platforms to connect and engage with their technologically savvy public, both publicly and internally. According to a McKinsey Global Institute (2016) poll, 93% of respondents stated their organisations employed at least one social technology, and 80% claimed they used social tools for internal purposes. Furthermore, more than two-thirds of respondents agreed that using social technology would increase internal communication(Men, 2020).
However, one cannot ignore the adverse impact of social media in the workplace. Many organisations mandate that employees should not use social media at the workplace, for it leads to time wastage and loss of productivity. Organisations can face significant risks when employees abuse the internet and social media. The risks include:
- Unauthorised disclosure of sensitive information,
- Breach of a party’s proprietary rights, and
- Bullying or derogatory remarks posted by employees (Zivnuska, 2019)
Organisations have to face the consequences of the inappropriate actions of their employees. In addition, without any policy on social media, organisations are vulnerable to dismissal if an employee has been dismissed for using social media inappropriately. Therefore, there must be regulations on using social media in the workplace wherein the employees must communicate within themselves.
Methodology
A qualitative research method was employed, wherein the data collected from participants were analysed using statistical and numerical methods. Data manipulation from pre-existing data could also be done using computational methods.
Participants in the survey included Human Resource managers, directors, managers and business leaders from various organisations. Soft and hard copies of the questionnaire were sent to employers and employees of various designations. The questionnaires were divided into two sections, with two subsections in each section. The first section is related to the patterns of social media use. The first subsection dealt with participants’ demographics and familiarity with social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Twitter. The next subsection involved the frequency of using these social media sites and whether they use other forms of social media.
The second section involved asking the participants about the benefits and risks of using social media in the workplace. In the first subsection, they were presented with a table and assessed their perception of the benefits of social media- like how strongly they attribute the benefits to using social media in the workplace. In the final subsection, the respondents had to check another table and evaluate how strongly they attribute the risks to using social media in the workplace. For this section, the participants had to respond on a Likert scale ranging from ‘Strongly agree’ to ‘Strongly disagree’ with an ‘unsure’ section added.
Results
The survey was conducted over two months- From January 2022 to March 2022. The online questionnaire was sent to about 150 Human Resource managers, directors, managers and business leaders via SurveyMonkey. LinkedIn was used to select the participants in a non-random fashion. Hard copies of the questionnaires were handed to the colleagues of the participants. The response rate of the survey was 40%, with 60 members responding to the survey.
Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the participants:
| Age | Gender | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Total | |
| Under 30 | 15 | 20 | 35 |
| 30-39 | 10 | 6 | 16 |
| 40-49 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Total | 30 | 30 | 60 |
Table 1: Age and gender breakdown of the respondents The table shows that most respondents were under 30 years (35/60 = 58.3%), with female respondents slightly more than male respondents. Almost all the participants were familiar with social media.
The following tables, Table 2 and Table 3 are split up by age and gender-based familiarity with social media.
| Age | Familiarity | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Total | |
| Under 30 | 31 | 4 | 35 |
| 30-39 | 13 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Total | 51 | 9 | 60 |
Table 2: A split-up of age and familiarity with social media
| Age | Familiarity | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Total | |
| Male | 27 | 3 | 30 |
| Female | 24 | 5 | 30 | Total | 51 | 4 | 60 |
Table 3:
A split-up of gender and familiarity with social media Table 2 reveals that about 85% (51/60) of the participants were familiar with social media. The number was higher in the under-30 age group (88.57%, 31/35) who were acquainted with using social media platforms. Table 3 reveals that both genders were familiar with social media, although it is higher in males (90%, 27/30) compared to females (80%, 24/30)
Frequency of using social media
Table 4 is a breakdown of social media use by gender who were familiar with using social media platforms. The frequency of use was assessed by the frequency with which respondents used their favourite social media platform.
| Gender | Daily | Weekly | Monthly | Never | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 22 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| Female | 18 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 24 | Total | 40 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 51 |
Table 4: A breakdown of the frequency of using social media platforms by gender
Benefits and risks of using social media platforms in the workplace
Table 5 illustrates the perceived benefits of social media by study participants. About 70% of the participants agree or strongly agree with most of the benefits of social media platforms. Only 11.6% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed to ‘Improves employee retention,’ about 38% responded to ‘Unsure’ and ‘Neither agree nor disagree’.
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither disagree nor agree | Agree | Strongly agree | Unsure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Improves staff engagement | 2 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 10 | 5 |
| Makes communication effective | 1 | 3 | 12 | 34 | 7 | 3 |
| Helps in timely communication | 1 | 1 | 6 | 40 | 10 | 2 |
| Improve employee retention | 3 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 1 | 15 |
Table 5: Benefits of using social media platforms in the workplace Table 6 details how much the employees agree with the perceived risks of using social media platforms in the workplace. 81.3% of the respondents agree and strongly agree with the risks of using social media in the workplace. About 88.3% of the respondents agreed with the organisation being oblivious to social media use, and 86.7% of the participants agreed with a security breach, followed by employee time waste and using tools incompatible with the organisation, at 78.3% each. About 75% agreed with the disclosure of the organisation’s information outside.
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither disagree nor agree | Agree | Strongly agree | Unsure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosing confidential information outside the organisation | 0 | 1 | 5 | 35 | 10 | 9 |
| The organisation is oblivious to their use | 1 | 1 | 4 | 40 | 13 | 1 |
| Employee time waste | 0 | 3 | 6 | 38 | 9 | 4 |
| Using tools that are incompatible with the organisation | 2 | 1 | 4 | 39 | 8 | 6 |
| Security breach | 0 | 2 | 7 | 42 | 10 | 1 |
Table 6: Perceived risks of using social media in the workplace
Conclusion
The survey concludes that most respondents were highly familiar with social media usage, especially among individuals who are under 30 years. Regarding gender, males were more aware of using social media than females. The participants did not show a high level of agreement with ‘Improved employee retention’. One area that could be considered for future studies includes using social media for CRM. ]To learn more about how statistical analysis is conducted in other disciplines, check out our data analysis examples.
References
- Holland, P., Cooper, B. K., and Hecker, R. (2016). Use of social media at work: a new form of employee voice? Int. J. Hum. Resour. Manage. 27, 2621–2634. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1227867
- Men, L. R., O’Neil, J., & Ewing, M. (2020). Examining the effects of internal social media on employee engagement. Public Relations Review, 46(2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101880
- Suzanne Zivnuska, John R. Carlson, Dawn S. Carlson, Ranida B. Harris & Kenneth J. Harris(2019) Social media addiction and social media reactions: The implications for job performance, The Journal of Social Psychology, 159:6, 746-760. https://doi.org/1080/00224545.2019.1578725