Enterprise social media: combating turnover in businesses

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how enterprise social media (ESM) use combats turnover by impacting work perceptions, and ultimately turnover intention.Design/methodology/approachThis study undertook a survey at a major information technology (IT) corporation. Data from a total of 276 working professionals were collected to test the proposed research model.FindingsThe structural equation modeling results show that ESM increase workplace integration; workplace integration decreased turnover intention, augmented job satisfaction and also reduced job tensions (perceived work stress) – job satisfaction and work stress perceptions influenced turnover intention.Research limitations/implicationsLow response bias is one of the limitations in this study, although this study used a priori and post hoc measures to mitigate non-response bias. This study contributed to the theory by improving our understanding of the role of ESM in combating turnover by impacting work perceptions through the lens of social capital and emotional dissonance theories. This study also has practical implications for managers. The results suggest that incorporating ESM within organizations improves employees' perceptions and behaviors – providing an option for managers to consider it as a way to save costs associated with employee turnover.Originality/valueAlthough several studies have been conducted on ESM, our understanding of the impact of ESM on work perceptions and turnover is still far from complete. This paper helps to close the gap in literature by improving our understanding of how ESM combats turnover by influencing work perceptions in an organization, which provides an essential contribution to research and practice in the field.

Falling in Love With Work: The Effect of Enterprise Social Media on Thriving at Work

“…Social media technology can further improve the efficiency of information transmission within an enterprise and promote communication between management and frontline employees. The use of social media breaks the bottlenecks in information dissemination that frequently occurs in offline offices and makes it possible to spread organizational decisions to the grassroots level quickly, which helps enterprises create an open and transparent organizational atmosphere, break through the internal barriers that characterize traditional organizations, share resources, open processes, reduce communication costs, enhance organizational vitality, and influence turnover intentions ( Murad et al, 2020 ). Within an organization, transparent resources and information provide employees with multiple channels to share knowledge and more opportunities to learn and grow ( Paul et al, 2013 ).…”

A review of enterprise social media: visualization of landscape and evolution

“…In addition, Zhang et al (2019) found that work-related and social-related ESM usage positively affects employees' organizational commitment through their organizational engagement. Third, ESM can affect employees' turnover (Moqbel et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2019). Lu et al (2019) pointed that different ESM usage behaviors (utilitarian use, hedonic use and social use) have different effects on employee turnover.…”

The Mediating Role of Social Media in the Relationship between Perceived Leadership Support and Employee Engagement in Banking

“…In recent years, the ubiquity of social media in the workplace has affected organizational processes. Social media are used as a workplace tool (Cao et al, 2016) and is an effective means of internal communication (Moqbel et al, 2020). Carr and Hayes (2015) define social media as: "Social media are Internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically interact and selectively self-present, either in realtime or asynchronously, with both broad and narrow audiences who derive value from user-generated content and the perception of interaction with others" (Carr and Hayes, 2015: 50).…”

“…ESM allows employees not only to receive, send and disseminate messages but also create communicational channels and share information within teams in organizations (Leonardi et al, 2013). Whereas ESM are limited to the given organizations (Moqbel et al, 2020), communication on external digital platforms enabling employees to instant message or generate content not only related to the work-task but also for personal use (Holland et al, 2016).…”