Multiple social media in the workplace: Contradictions and congruencies

Abstract

In this paper, we report an investigation on the use of multiple social media in knowledge work and explore the contribution of activity theory for such a study. As social media are increasingly adopted at work, there is a demand to understand how they are being incorporated. This study focuses on how social media may improve or reduce coherence in work activities, and for this purpose, we use activity theory as an analytical lens to conceptualise social media usage in a Scandinavian software development company. The qualitative data, consisting of interviews and observations, were analysed to capture the mediating role of social media for information sharing within and across work activities. We found social media in general helpful to maintain coherence in terms of sharing work‐related information, improving ambient awareness, as well as for socialising, but they also caused inconsistencies in use and adoption. In addition, we found that social media served different purposes in different activity systems, causing both contradictions and congruencies; what was seen as a benefit for some work activities appeared as a limitation for others (eg, concerning pace and aims of information sharing). In our findings through the lens of activity theory, we observed how objects, although they were shared, were fractionalised in networked activities. Our conclusion is that despite the still unoptimised functionality, social media do bring coherence in work activities in a decentralised work environment.

Learning from Workaround Practices: the Challenge of Enterprise System Implementations in Multinational Corporations

“…These developments have opened it up to use in the study of organizations (Jarzabkowski, 2003) and, more specifically, in the study of information systems and work practices (Forsgren & Byström, 2018;Simeonova, 2018;Slavova & Karanasios, 2018). Below we discuss how we draw on activity theory to answer our research question.…”

Activity Theory used as an Analytical Lens for Business Research

“…This links in some respects with the view that IS and ICT related AT research may still be over-emphasizing the role of technology (Simeonova, 2018). A few examples of papers in which AT is used to study social media do exist (see Bagarukayo et al, 2016;Forsgren and Byström, 2018).…”

“…However, in many cases the tools used to mediate in the activity system are information systems or ICT tools and hence Information Systems (IS) journals are often selected as places to publish these papers, even when the authors are from business schools. Examples of multidisciplinary AT use related to IS and published in IS journals include those described by Weeger andHaase (2016), Clemmensen Kaptelinin andNardi (2016), Forsgren and Byström (2018), Kelly (2018) Mursu andvarious co-authors (2002;2004;2007), Simeonova (2018) and Karanasios and Allen with co-authors (Allen et al, 2013;Karanasios and Allen, 2013;Karanasios, 2014b). Despite this, relatively few IS researchers have used AT (Malaurent and Avison, 2016).…”

How Does Social Media Use Influence the Relationship Between Emotional Labor and Burnout?

“…Social media use for occupational relationships may increase organizational productivity (effectiveness in terms of customer satisfaction and efficiency in terms of two-way communication) and visibility (reduction in negative work behavior like absenteeism), especially when integrated with face-to-face interactions (Garrett & Danziger, 2008;Gibbs, Rozaidi, & Eisenberg, 2013;Lam, Yeung, & Cheng, 2016;Paniagua & Sapena, 2014). Since an increasing number of corporate organizations have their own social media platforms through which employees communicate work-related information, social media use may contribute to organizational (formal or informal) communication and information sharing (Forsgren & Byström, 2018;Leonardi, 2014;Leonardi et al, 2013;Nisar, Prabhakar, & Strakova, 2019;Pan & Crotts, 2012;Sloan, Checel, & Yang, 2012). Individual employees can combine work with home affairs at the same time via social media, and their stress may lessen with social media-based interactions.…”