Impression management strategies on enterprise social media platforms: An affordance perspective

Abstract

Enterprise Social Media Platforms (ESMPs) are arenas for self-presentation where employees construct, co-create, and maintain an online image among their colleagues. This study systemically evaluated the current literature to understand the potential of ESMPs in influencing employees’ impression management strategies from the affordance perspective. Drawing from a focused review of the literature on ESMPs’ affordances and impression management, this paper reclassified employees’ impression management strategies in the context of ESMPs. It proposes a conceptual framework that captures the complex relationship between ESMPs’ affordances and employees’ various impression management strategies. The framework highlights that ESMPs’ affordances affect employees’ impression management strategies, both positively and negatively, and proposes the contingent effects of individual motives and boundary management on the relationship between affordances and employees’ impression management strategies. Our literature review and proposed framework provide a useful basis for future studies on impression management on ESMPs. Our framework also helps employees manage impressions strategically and managers and ESMPs’ developers to fulfil ESMPs’ potential by understanding how affordance affects impression management strategies.