Between hope and fear: developing social media guidelines
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-04-2016-0086 |
| Date | 13 February 2017 |
| Published date | 13 February 2017 |
| Pages | 130-144 |
| Author | Michaël Opgenhaffen,An-Sofie Claeys |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Between hope and fear: developing
social media guidelines
Michaël Opgenhaffen and An-Sofie Claeys
Institute for Media Studies,
Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine employers’policy with regard to employees’social media
use. Specifically, the authors examine the extent to which employers allow the use of social media in the
workplace, what opportunities can be related to employees’social media use and how social media guidelines
are implemented within organizations.
Design/methodology/approach –In-depth interviews were conducted with HR and communication
managers of 16 European companies from different sectors and of varying size.
Findings –Some organizations believe that social media should be accessible to employees while others ban
them from the workplace. Most respondents believe that organizations can benefit from employees sharing
work-related content with their own network. However, they encourage the sharing and retweeting of official
corporate messages rather than employees developing their own messages. This fear regarding employees’
messages on social media is reflected in the broad adoption of social media guidelines.
Research limitations/implications –Future research should chart the nature of existing social media
guidelines (restrictive vs incentive). Accordingly, the perceived sense and nonsense of social media guidelines
in companies should be investigated, not only among the managers but also among employees.
Practical implications –Organizations should remain in dialogue with employees with regard to social
media. Managers seem overly concerned with potential risks and forget the opportunities that can arise when
employees operate as ambassadors.
Originality/value –The use of in-depth interviews allowed the authors to assess the rationale behind social
media guidelines within organizations in depth and formulate suggestions to organizations and
communication managers.
Keywords Social media, Internal communications, Guidelines, Dialogic communication
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Research on communication management in recent years increasingly focuses on the impact
of social media. Many practitioners seem to consider the value of social media for
organizations to be self-evident (Taylor and Kent, 2010). An important reason for companies
to use social media is that these channels allow them to enter into a dialogue with
stakeholders (Kelleher and Sweetser, 2012). In recent years, public relations has shifted to a
two-way, relational communication model and of all the media channels, social media
approach that interpersonal ideal the best (Kent and Taylor, 2002). While much research in
this context emphasizes external stakeholders (e.g. Kelleher, 2009; Kelleher and Miller, 2006),
it is also important for communication managers to consider internal stakeholders
( Johansen et al., 2012). As such, more research should examine strategies for the use of social
media within organizations (Linke and Zerfass, 2013). Social media have become an
inevitable part of both our social and work life (Lam, 2016) and are a double-edged sword to
employers and employees (Richards, 2012).
This investigation will therefore examine how companies deal with the use of social
media by employees in the workplace. Prior research illustrates that companies view this
with mixed feelings (e.g. Carim and Warwick, 2013; DiStaso et al., 2011). These mixed
feelings are understandable given the fact that social media offer an important outlet for the
so-called megaphoning effect, “the likelihood of empl oyees’voluntary information
forwarding or information sharing about organizational strengths (accomplishments) or
weaknesses (problems)”(Kim and Rhee, 2011, p. 246). By means of in-depth interviews with
Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 2, 2017
pp. 130-144
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-04-2016-0086
Received 26 April 2016
Revised 23 September 2016
9 December 2016
Accepted 12 December 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
130
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