The power of LinkedIn: how LinkedIn enables professionals to leave their organizations for professional advancement

Abstract

PurposeThis study applies self-determination theory to investigate how motivations to participate in LinkedIn would influence a professional's intention to leave an organization for professional advancement (ILPA).Design/methodology/approachThe authors randomly sampled 5810 professionals who are actively participating in LinkedIn for at least six months and collected 379 completed questionnaires.FindingsThis study examines the effect of motivation to participate in LinkedIn on ILPA. Perceived autonomy support, perceived competence support and perceived relatedness support have positive influences on intrinsic motivation. Introjected regulation is positively influenced by perceived autonomy and competence support but unaffected by perceived relatedness support. External regulation is positively influenced by perceived autonomy and competence support but has no relationship with perceived relatedness support. ILPA from using LinkedIn is positively influenced by intrinsic motivation, introjected and external regulations.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should consider other professional network sites as well as longitudinal research designs to address external validity and causality issues.Practical implicationsOrganizations should understand that professional network sites play an important role for professional advancement. The motivations to participate in professional network sites are supports on autonomy and competence. For platform designers, it is vital to enhance supports on autonomy and competence to sustain users' participation in professional network sites.Originality/valueThis study extends the scope of self-determination theory to understand the motivations to participate in professional network sites, which will have impacts on professionals' ILPA.

How peers’ updates on social media influence job search

“…Previous research has largely neglected these mechanisms outside of workplaces (Felps et al, 2009;Sunder et al, 2017). However, social media-related aspects can influence employee attitudes toward staying (Cho and Lam, 2017) as well as job search behavior (Garg and Telang, 2017). Third, we explored the circumstances in which employees are more susceptible to social contagion-related shocks on professional SNSs.…”

“…Substantial research indicates that the behaviors of contacts on social mediathat is, digital platforms that enable information sharing, the sharing of user-created content and cooperation (McFarland and Ployhart, 2015) shape individuals' emotions, attitudes and behaviors (e.g., de Vries and Kühne, 2015;Bapna and Umyarov, 2015). For example, the mere use of professional social media leads to higher turnover intentions (Cho and Lam, 2017). Moreover, the number of social ties on social media predicts job search intensity (Garg and Telang, 2017).…”

Analysing global professional gender gaps using LinkedIn advertising data

“…LinkedIn allows users including workers, employers or recruiters, to create a profile based on their professional affiliation and connect to professional contacts within and outside their professional networks. Users turn to LinkedIn for different reasons, including professional self-promotion, accessing information about career opportunities, organizations and professional development, strategic networking, and communication with professional contacts [32,33,35,37,[54][55][56]. Similar to other social media platforms, one of the key aspects in LinkedIn's business model is to make revenue through targeted advertising offered on the platform through its ad campaign manager.…”

“…However, the direction of the bias is theoretically ambiguous. On the one hand, social media platforms promise to be open and inclusive spaces with the potential to enable content-sharing, expanded access to information and the opportunity to connect with wider networks for those who may lack access to these resources through conventional channels [33][34][35]37]. For example, women with children experience greater time pressures due to the dual burden of managing work with childcare responsibilities [42,72].…”

“…1 As technical, professional, and managerial occupations in the world of work have become virtually mediated, social networking sites such as LinkedIn hold the potential to enable economic opportunity, provide new sources of professional information, and expand networks strategically for job opportunities and career advancement. Although research on the use of social media and more specifically on LinkedIn for economic opportunities and career advancement is still limited, emerging survey and qualitative evidence suggest that users do indeed experience some of these benefits [32][33][34][35][36][37].…”