Virtuality at work and social media use among dispersed workers. Promoting network ties, shared vision and trust
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| Pages | 358-373 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2018-0093 |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Author | Karolis Tijunaitis,Debora Jeske,Kenneth S. Shultz |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Virtuality at work and
social media use among
dispersed workers
Promoting network ties, shared vision
and trust
Karolis Tijunaitis and Debora Jeske
School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, and
Kenneth S. Shultz
California State University, San Bernardino, California, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Technology and globalization of services have facilitated the digitalization of many processes at
work. However, their impact on social capital is unknown. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
relationships between virtuality in the workplace and social capital.
Design/methodology/approach –Using an online survey, the authors recruited 152 female student
workers using an opportunity sampling approach.
Findings –Participants who used social media at work (n¼112) reported higher social capital overall than
participants who did not use any social media to communicate with colleagues at work (n¼40). This
difference also presented itself in terms of the social capital subscales (network ties, shared vision and trust).
Mediation analysis conducted with users of social media at work revealed that social media use was a
significant mediator in the relationship between virtuality at work and social capital overall (partial
mediation). Subsequent analyses with the subscales for virtuality and social capital suggested full mediation
of the relationship in most instances (with the exception of work practices).
Originality/value –This is the first study to examine the relationship between virtuality, social media and
social capital at work. The result of this study suggests that social media use at work between colleagues can
play a significant role in promoting social capital in workplaces that are heavily reliant on technological
application to support interactions at work and feature geographical and temporal dispersion.
Keywords Social capital, Social media, Virtuality
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The technological advances of the past several decades have made communication
technology more accessible, accepted and embedded in today’s society and individuals’
lives. Increased accessibility to communication technologies has allowed organizations to
effectively transcend spatial and organizational boundaries, as well as given rise to a
number of computer-mediated working arrangements previously not possible (Gibson and
Cohen, 2003). With unprecedented connectedness and constant availability, many of today’s
employees perform the bulk of their organizational tasks online, without the need to be
physically co-located with their colleagues (Kirkman et al., 2002). Despite the advantages
that such developments have presented in terms of interactions across time and the globe,
the computer-mediated nature of interactions is not without its challenges when we consider
the importance of relationship building in the workplace.
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 41 No. 3, 2019
pp. 358-373
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-03-2018-0093
Received 31 March 2018
Revised 26 June 2018
22 August 2018
2 September 2018
20 September 2018
Accepted 20 September 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors are not aware of any conflict of interest. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
of our colleagues who supported this research and the participants who agreed to participate in this
study. The first author designed the current study with the second author. The third author supported
the data collection effort. All authors contributed to different degrees to the development of the paper.
358
ER
41,3
Virtuality at work is a new concept that has become an everyday feature in many
organizations, in line with reports of more people working remotely and from home
(BLS, 2016). In this sense, it is important to differentiate virtuality at work from alternative
definitions in different disciplines, as this term has been adopted by social scientists as well.
Virtuality was originally considered the replacement of a physical object by a functional
emulation or simulation of the item. This description is particularly prominent in computer
science wherea physical aspect is simulated,resulting in certain functionalityto users without
having corresponding physicalcomponents. However, in the contextof online communication
which emerged manyyears later, the concept of virtuality refers to the movement of physical
or in-person processes to online platforms or tools which mimic or replace traditional
processes. This means the physical components of everyday work (e.g. the interactions, the
communicationstreams) are now replacedby online interactions and processesthat take place
online, ratherthan on a physical piece of paper or desktop.This means virtuality in its original
form shares certainsimilarities to virtuality at work, themove from the physical to simulated
or online versions of the original interactions and processes.
This move to more virtual working is the function of multiple drivers, including
geographic or temporal distance, but also the increasing digitization of workplace processes
(leading to the adoption of new technological processes and work practices). The major
determining factor of virtuality at work is the extent to which employees rely on
computer-mediated communication to perform work (Berry, 2011). In the social sciences and
communication domain, a great deal of empirical literature on virtuality stems from the
examination of the functioning of virtual teams. Virtuality was previously seen as a
categorical dichotomy of virtual (computer mediated) vs face-to-face team arrangement
(De Guinea et al., 2012). In recent years, however, that is less often the case given that most
organizations can be considered virtual to some degree (e.g. Kirkman et al., 2002). As a
result, virtuality has evolved into a position in a continuum with the two traditional
dichotomies at the opposite ends of the spectrum.
In the context of this paper and these developments, we define virtuality at work as the
extent to which workplace interactionsbetween employees involves computer-mediated tools.
The use may be the results of a number of workplaceand organizational characteristics that
shape employeeinteractions, such as the geographical or temporal dispersion of employees,or
the reliance on technological tools and prominence of computer-mediated work practices
(Gilson et al.,2015). This paper will refer to individualsworking in some degree of virtualityas
virtual workers. One particular area of interest in the current paper therefore concerns the
process by which socialcapital formation may be supported by socialmedia in work settings
that feature varying degrees of virtuality at work.
Social media adoption and social capital
Social media is a broad umbrella term for a wide range of tools that are social in nature, and
that enable individuals to create and share content and to participate in social networking
(Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). In contrast to virtuality, social media is focused on the
computer-mediated interaction processes that have moved online (rather than any other
aspects that may be virtual, such as processes that moved from physical desktops to online
servers). However, both virtuality at work and social media use have been prompted by
temporal or geographic dispersion –which may raise the necessity for online tools. Several
researchers confirm that such platforms reinforce the development of new relationships,
effective communication and knowledge sharing between employees ( Jackson et al., 2007),
thanks to increased visibility, persistence and editability afforded by these tools (Treem and
Leonardi, 2013). These results have been replicated using participant samples from
organizational contexts, highlighting its applicability for social interaction in the context of
work (Cao et al., 2016).
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Virtuality at
work and
social media
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