Understanding Social Media Usage at Work from the Perspective of Social Capital Theory

Abstract

With the pervasive use of social media (SM) in organizations, it is regarded as a relevant driver that can influence an employee’s job performance. This study fills in the gap that extends the job performance concept by discovering the role of SM in innovative performance in introducing new ideas beyond standard specifications to produce novel and valuable organizational outcomes. By adopting the social capital theory (SCT), the present study investigates the roles of social media use at work in predicting social capital (network ties, shared vision, and trust) that might promote work engagement and subsequently affect employees’ innovative job performance. The data was collected through an online survey, and 291 Malaysian employees participated. The partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was applied in data analysis for the measurement model and structural model used in this study. Findings show that SM use at work significantly predicts network ties, shared vision, and trust. Besides, network ties and trust positively promoted work engagement except for shared vision. Subsequently, work engagement was associated with innovative job performance. This study provides theoretical and practical implications for extending knowledge, as well as mitigating plans and efforts to resolve employees’ performance concerning the issues of SM use at work.

Trends in E-Commerce And Social Media Research in Asia: Five Years of Scientometric and Content Analysis

“…Research findings show that the use of social media (SM) in the work environment has a significant impact on the formation of network ties, shared vision, and trust levels. Moreover, network ties and trust tend to increase the level of work engagement, except in the context of shared vision (Kasim et al, 2022). When it comes to social media, it is important to note that the trust instilled in these platforms has a significant impact on consumers' purchase intentions (Wang et al, 2022).…”

The effects of negative social media connotations on subjective wellbeing of an ageing population: A stressor-strain-outcome perspective

“…And, as there is a gap in the literature regarding this, it is worth examining whether social media interaction has any negative implications for the wellbeing of an ageing population. For this purpose, we chose Malaysia, a country with a growing aging population [ 7 ] and extensive social media penetration [ 8 ]. In Malaysia the percentage of people aged 65 and above increased from 7.0 per cent to 7.4 percent [ 9 ] and it is projected to become an ageing nation by 2035 [ 10 ].…”