E-voice: how network and media technologies are shaping employee voice

Balnave, Nikola; Barnes, Alison; MacMillan, Craig; Thornthwaite, Louise

doi:10.4337/9780857939272.00037

Cited by 10 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Since the 1990s, ICT advances have sparked debate about how unions might use the Internet to pursue mediated interaction with members and non‐members alike (Balnave et al, ; Diamond & Freeman, ). Before web 2.0 technology emerged, when email and websites were the principal forms of communication associated with new ICTs, some scholars forecast potentially adverse consequences for unions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unions and social media: Prospects for gender inclusion

Thornthwaite

Balnave

Barnes

2018

Gender Work & Organization

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The emergence of web 2.0 technologies led to optimistic predictions that social media (SM) might alter traditional gendered patterns of member participation in trade unions. Greene, Hogan, and Grieco and others suggested that the forms of communication and engagement these technologies offered to unions and their members had the potential to foster gender inclusion and contribute to union diversity, arguably central to effective representation. This article reports on a survey of union members’ experiences with and perceptions of their union's SM services, to identify whether there is a gendered dimension to members’ use. The findings indicate that for most union members regardless of gender, more traditional communication channels such as face‐to‐face contact and email remain the preferred means of communication. However, the findings also show that women are just as likely as men, if not more so, to engage with union SM. Given that historically, women largely participated less in union activities than their male counterparts, this broad parity of use by women supports the conclusion that SM has substantial potential to improve women's participation in unions.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unions and social media: Prospects for gender inclusion

Thornthwaite

Balnave

Barnes

2018

Gender Work & Organization

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“…It is not only the case that new channels for voice-which may or may not be sanctioned by the organization-have emerged, but the way in which voice might be expressed has also changed. As Balnave et al (2014) point out, users of social media can upload video, photo and text almost instantly with the potential to disseminate this material to a wide audience that is geographically disperse with 'ramifications for collective as well as individual expressions of voice ' (p. 440). Yet, while it is acknowledged that employee voice mechanisms are evolving and that the targets of voice are broadening as they respond to macro-level changes such as the use of social media (Mowbray et al, 2015), very little research has been undertaken to explore how this is taking place and what the implications are for the conceptualization of employee voice.…”

Section: Twitter and Employee Voicementioning

confidence: 99%

Voicing job satisfaction and dissatisfaction through Twitter: employees’ use of cyberspace

Conway¹,

Rosati²,

Monks³

et al. 2019

New Technol Work Employ

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This article adopts a work orientations perspective to consider how, through the medium of Twitter, employees voice the things they love and hate about their jobs. Using 817,235 tweets posted by 650,958 users in the calendar year 2014, the findings provide new insights into both employee voice and job satisfaction/dissatisfaction as well as an enhanced understanding of the employment relationship. First, the findings indicate that Twitter, in its expression of very personal and individualistic needs, might be considered a new form of employee voice. Second, Twitter captures the positive, the negative and the ambivalence in the notion of job satisfaction. Third, the description of the methodology used to access and analyse Twitter data illustrates how new methodological approaches, particularly those embedded within computer science, may be of value to social scientists in their analysis of ‘Big Data’.

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“…This picture is growing more and more complex, considering that much employee dissent is progressively migrating to online outlets (Balnave et al, 2014;Bishop & Levine, 1999). Employees displace dissent online because they feel they have more control over the discussion and involve a larger and more supportive audience (Gossett & Kilker, 2006;Kassing, 2011).…”

Section: Understanding and Building On Anonymity Literature: Dissentimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite evidence indicating a significant growth in the phenomenon of employee dissent in online contexts (Balnave et al, 2014;Shoss et al, 2013;Stohl et al, 2017), surprisingly this remains an underdeveloped research area. Most of the existing research on anonymous online dissent has focused on customers (e.g.…”

Section: Understanding and Building On Online Communication Literaturmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some organisations have, in fact, introduced communication and social media guidelines in the effort to prevent undesired employee communicative behaviours external to the organisation, providing codes of conduct for employee access, information dissemination, and preferred tone of voice (Stohl et al, 2017). This, while protecting the organisation and its property rights in the business, also limits the principle of freedom of expression in that organisations extend their control over the personal lives of employees (Balnave et al, 2014) and often take disciplinary action toward employees being disrespectful of such guidelines (Valentine et al, 2010).…”

Section: Targeted Managers and Organisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Employee Anonymous Online Dissent: Dynamics and Ethical Challenges for Employees, Targeted Organisations, Online Outlets, and Audiences

Ravazzani¹,

Mazzei²

2017

Bus. Ethics Q.

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ABSTRACT:This article aims to enhance understanding of employee anonymous online dissent (EAOD), a controversial phenomenon in contemporary digital environments. We conceptualise and scrutinise EAOD as a communicative and interactional process among four key actors: dissenting employees, online outlet administrators, audiences, and targeted organisations. This multi-actor, dialectical process encompasses actor-related tensions that may generate unethical consequences if single voices are not brought out and confronted. Appropriating a Habermasian ethical and discursive lens, we examine and disentangle three particular challenges emerging from the EAOD process: lack of accountability and potential opportunism; equal participation and resolution of actor-related tensions; and organisational participation and internalisation of dissent. We show that EAOD can initiate plural dialogue that helps co-construct and balance different voices within an informal and noninstitutionalised context for interaction and public deliberation. We conclude our inquiry by offering reflections on practical implications and a research agenda for further investigation.

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E-voice: how network and media technologies are shaping employee voice

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Unions and social media: Prospects for gender inclusion

Unions and social media: Prospects for gender inclusion

Voicing job satisfaction and dissatisfaction through Twitter: employees’ use of cyberspace

Employee Anonymous Online Dissent: Dynamics and Ethical Challenges for Employees, Targeted Organisations, Online Outlets, and Audiences

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