Enterprise social media impact on human resource practices
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-06-2017-0031 |
| Pages | 328-343 |
| Date | 04 December 2017 |
| Published date | 04 December 2017 |
| Author | Godwin Oscar Offong,Joyce Costello |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Enterprise social media impact on
human resource practices
Godwin Oscar Offong and Joyce Costello
Department of Media and Communications, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individual attitudes toward using enterprise
social media (ESM) impact trust, explicit and tacit knowledge sharing as well as work performance in
emerging economies.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors use data from a survey of 293 employed individuals
in Lagos, Nigeria, who work at organizations that have ESM systems.
Findings –The authors find that ESM usage is significantly associated with trust. However, ESM usage
does not impact explicit or tacit knowledge transfer.
Practical implications –This paper provides empirical evidence that individuals who perceive high levels
of performance expectancy will engage in ESM usage which in turn increases trust amongst colleagues.
Human resource managers can argue that by adopting ESM, they can facilitate improved trust and
collaboration through online engagement amongst employees. This is important for multi-national
organizations wanting to expand into emerging economies where the organization and local workforce need
to foster trust in knowledge sharing.
Originality/value –There has been little evidence regarding HRM use of ESM in emerging economies.
By understanding individual attitudes toward ESM and how the use impacts knowledge sharing, the
academic discussions concerning use of technology to enhance knowledge sharing can continue to evolve.
Keywords Knowledge transfer, Trust, Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology,
Enterprise social media
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Rapid development in information technology has resulted in many organizations adopting
social media as a strategic tool in communicating with internal and external audiences.
Human resource departments are increasingly using enterprise social media (ESM) to
create social relationships, enhance communication and trust amongst employees. Studies
show that the use of electronic networks has been linked to knowledge management
(e.g. Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Wasko and Faraj, 2005) and improved communication and
collaboration in order to enhance individual performance at work (North, 2010).
Furthermore, incorporation of internet technology has proven to impact organizational
knowledge transfer and performance (e.g. Hsia et al., 2006; Chatti et al., 2007; Bennett et al.,
2010; Leidner et al., 2010; Moqbel et al., 2013).
However, many studies involving the use of technology in the workplace are explored in
the American and Western European context with HR departments in emerging economies
slow to adapt to digitaltransformations. Some scholarsargue that the digital divide is a result
of modern telecommunications infrastructures in emerging economies such as sub-Saharan
Africa ignoring the necessary development needed for land-lines and focusing on mobile
instead (Lee et al., 2012).If individuals do not have accessto online systems in the workplace,
this may impede attitudes toward engaging with ESM. Therefore, there is an opportunity to
bridge the gap in knowledge by exploring in emerging economies if individual attitudes
toward ESM and usage will impact on knowledge sharing and performance.
In order to understand these questions, we call upon three theories. Since social
interaction is critical to any kind of exchange (Lin, 2001), social capital theory proposes that
tangible and intangible benefits can be gained through social interactions. This suggests
that knowledge transfer can be best achieved through social interactions mediated through
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 5 No. 3, 2017
pp. 328-343
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-06-2017-0031
Received 16 June 2017
Revised 21 August 2017
22 August 2017
Accepted 22 August 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
328
EBHRM
5,3
the use of ESM tools and technologies (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998; Lin, 2007). Second,
media synchronicity theory (MST) can be used to explore ESM impact on performance
through the conveyance and convergence capacity of media (Dennis and Valacich, 1999).
Media synchronicity posits that goals are achieved and performance is enhanced when
communication needs are supported by the medium used (Dennis et al., 2008). Finally,
the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) explains user perception
and subsequent behavior and use of technology. It assumes that performance and
effort expectancy directly determine individuals’usage intentions and behavior
(Venkatesh et al., 2003). Together, these theories should assist us in answering if
individual attitudes toward ESM use will impact knowledge transfer and performance.
This paper seeks to contribute to academicconversations threefold. First,using the social
capital theory (Yoon and Rolland, 2012), we examine how the unique collaborative and
communicativepotentials of ESM can help overcome barriersto knowledge transfer. Second,
we add empirical evidence linking MST to higher performance at work (Cao et al., 2012).
Finally we seek to answer Venkatesh et al.’s (2016) call for new outcome mechanisms
of UTAUT by including knowledge transfer in the analyses. Understanding the impact of
ESM use on knowledge transfer will enable HR practitioners to effectively address the
issues of knowledge transfer amongst individuals, across departments and geographical
locations. Limitations and gaps from this study will also be beneficial in directing future
research in this field.
Theoretical framework
ESM
ESM is the direct adoption of social media tools that are either public facing (such as a
Facebook or LinkedIn page) or organizational facing (such as an intranet, internal wikis or
closed Facebook or LinkedIn groups) with the purpose to facilitate communication,
connection and collaboration amongst employees (Patroni et al., 2016). ESM can be
optional, encouraged or even mandated for employees (Ellison and Boyd, 2013). The use of
each system differs though. Social media is primarily for social, interpersonal goals
and entertainment, whereas ESM is used to accomplish work-related goals and
maintaining professional contacts (Ellison and Boyd, 2013). Finally, ESM allows for
organizational content aggregation which can be used internally as a means of
collaboration across silos (Kane, 2015) or externally for crowdsourcing ideas or solutions
to problems (Alimam et al., 2017).
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) observed that early adoption and use of ESM was pioneered
by employees who independently joined public sites like Myspace and Facebook and
interacted with co-workers. Younger, new employees in companies like IBM and Microsoft,
who were used to Facebook, used this social media extensively to learn about their new
colleagues and create new social relationships (DiMicco and Millen, 2007). In addition to
socialization, these relationships paved the way for knowledge transfer. Tulgan (2007)
suggests that flexible working, socialization, training and development functions can be
promoted with ESM tools. Furthermore, various scholars advocate HR use of ESM
internally to promote organizational citize nship behavior, performance, knowledge
management and transfer in the organization (e.g. Nucleus, 2009; Bennett et al., 2010;
Leidner et al., 2010; Moqbel et al., 2013).
ESM is not without criticism though. Nucleus Research (2009) suggests that Facebook
use by organizational members results in over 1.5 percent drop in productivity. D’Abate and
Eddy (2007) noted that employers feared online activities would lead to cyber-loafing
and loss of productivity. From an organizational aspect, Alimam et al. (2017) state that
strategic planning and architectural design remains a challenge for organizations
considering implementing ESM. Therefore, in order to address the issue of the trade-offs
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Enterprise
social media
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