Knowledge benefits through work-related social media use: A preregistered measurement burst study
The claim that work-related social media use can help people to get better access to information has received cross-sectional empirical support, but it remains unclear to what extent these benefits are really media effects or rather selection effects. We conducted a year-long five-wave panel study with two intensive measurement periods (bi-daily assessment for one workweek after Waves 3 and 4) to disentangle within- and between-person effects. Within-person effects would support the claim that there are media effects on work-related outcomes. By looking at two different timeframes (half-day vs. three months), we also aim to explore on which timescales these effects evolve. Our analyses focused on reading and posting on social media and controlled for networking (waves) and workload (bursts) as potential confounders. In line with preregistered predictions, we found that within-person increases in reading and posting differentially predicted increases in informational benefits, ambient awareness, serendipity, creativity, and productivity measured at the same time period. Reading was positively related to the outcomes in both bursts and waves. Posting, in contrast, showed positive associations with most outcomes only within the same half‑day (bursts), and with creativity alone in the waves. In contrast, we found no consistent lagged effects at half-day or three-month intervals. In addition, between-person differences also emerged, especially for posting. Individuals who posted more often reported higher creativity and serendipity. Overall, the stronger within-person effects observed in the bursts suggest that WRSMU may provide positive, but predominantly short-term, benefits.
- Research Article
- 10.1108/itp-05-2023-0425
- Sep 24, 2025
- Information Technology & People
Purpose The study aims to examine the correlates of work-related social media use. Specifically, it investigates the role of work-related social media use (WRSMU) and frequency of social media use (FSMU) in the relationship between workplace fear of missing out (FoMO), organizational support, innovative performance, and routine performance at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 245 employees from India working in various organizations. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The findings indicate that work-related social media use has a positive and significant association with innovative and routine performance. Additionally, organizational support is positively and significantly associated with work-related social media use and performance. Workplace fear of missing out is positively associated with work-related social media use, but not with performance. The mediation analysis showed that work-related social media use mediates between workplace FoMO and performance, and organizational support and performance. Furthermore, moderation analysis revealed that the frequency of social media use moderates between work-related social media use and innovative performance. Originality/value This study’s findings provide new insights into the impact of social media use on individual and organizational functioning. This study demonstrates this impact and contributes to the existing literature on the social and cultural impacts of information technology.
- Research Article
3
- 10.47191/jefms/v4-i7-26
- Jul 27, 2021
- Journal of Economics, Finance And Management Studies
This study aims to determine how the influence of the use of social media (Work-related social media use) and social media (Social-related social media use) on job satisfaction. In addition, to find out how the role of work engagement and organizational engagement, as a mediating variable in the relationship.The research was conducted in Indonesia with the analysis unit of the State Civil Servant (SCS) domiciled in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar. A sample of 212 respondents obtained by using a questionnaire distribution technique using google form, data analysis using SEM-AMOS.The results of the analysis show that the use of social media (Work-related social media use) has no effect on job satisfaction, but the use of social media (Social-related social media use) is found to increase the job satisfaction of SCS.The results of the analysis also show that the use of social media (Work-related social media use) can increase work engagement, but has no effect on increasing organizational engagement. The use of social media (Social-related social media use) contributes to an increase in work engagement and organizational engagement. Furthermore, it was found that there was a significant effect of work engagement and organizational engagement on SCS job satisfaction. Work engagement and organizational engagement play a role as a mediating variable (partially) in the relationship between social media use (Social-related social media use) and job satisfaction. But there is no role as a mediating variable in the relationship between (Work-related social media use) and job satisfaction.
- Front Matter
16
- 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.11.002
- Jan 16, 2019
- Journal of Adolescent Health
Youth Social Media Use and Health Outcomes: #diggingdeeper
- Research Article
100
- 10.1108/jmp-10-2015-0388
- Nov 14, 2016
- Journal of Managerial Psychology
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the negative consequences of work-related social media use, and the extent to which the presence of social media policies in organizations are able to mitigate these consequences. Design/methodology/approach Internet-based survey data (N=575) was analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the indirect effect of social media use on exhaustion through work/life conflict. Findings This study shows that there is a dark side to social media use, as employees’ work-related social media use might be intrusive to their personal lives while simultaneously increasing life to work conflict. Furthermore, the results indicate that the current implementation of social media usage policies at work is not sufficient to defend employees against the negative consequences of social media use; namely, work/life conflict and ultimately exhaustion. Research limitations/implications The indirect pathways are assessed using cross-sectional data, which makes verifying causal relationships difficult. Practical implications The findings underscore the need for contemporary organizations to pragmatically intensify their efforts to mitigate the impacts of boundary conflict on workers’ well-being that result from increased use of social media for work. Originality/value This paper is among the first to demonstrate that the use of social media for work is related to exhaustion through increased work/life conflict.
- Research Article
34
- 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.11704
- May 21, 2025
- JAMA Network Open
In 2023, the US Surgeon General issued the Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health, identifying critical research gaps that preclude evidence-based guidance given that most studies of social media and mental health have been cross-sectional rather than longitudinal and have focused on young adults or older adolescents rather than on younger adolescents. To evaluate longitudinal associations between social media use (time spent on social media) and depressive symptoms across 4 annual waves spanning a 3-year follow-up period from late childhood to early adolescence. In this prospective cohort study using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study across 21 study sites from October 2016 to October 2018, children aged 9 to 10 years at baseline were assessed across 4 waves (baseline, year 1, year 2, and year 3), with year-3 follow-up through 2022. Sample sizes varied across waves and measures due to attrition and missing data. Analyses retained all available data at each wave. Data were analyzed from January 2024 to March 2025. Self-reported time spent on social media at baseline to 3-year follow-up. Reciprocal associations between social media use and depressive symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist) at baseline and at 1, 2, and 3 years of follow-up were assessed using longitudinal, cross-lagged structural equation panel models. Covariates included sex, race and ethnicity, household income, and parental educational level. At baseline, the sample included 11 876 participants (mean [SD] age, 9.9 [0.6] years), of whom 6196 (52.2%) were male. After adjusting for stable between-person differences and covariates, within-person increases in social media use above the person-level mean were associated with elevated depressive symptoms from year 1 to year 2 (β, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.01-0.12; P = .01) and from year 2 to year 3 (β, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.04-0.14; P < .001), whereas depressive symptoms were not associated with subsequent social media use at any interval. The final random-intercept cross-lagged panel model demonstrated a good fit (comparative fit index, 0.977; Tucker-Lewis index, 0.968; root mean square error of approximation, 0.031 [90% CI, 0.029-0.033]). Between-person differences in social media use were not associated with depressive symptoms (β, -0.01; 95% CI, -0.04 to 0.02; P = .46) after accounting for demographic and family-level factors. In this cohort study of 11 876 children and adolescents, reporting higher than person-level mean social media use in years 1 and 2 after baseline was associated with greater depressive symptoms in the subsequent year. The findings suggest that clinicians should provide anticipatory guidance regarding social media use for young adolescents and their parents.
- Front Matter
53
- 10.1016/j.ophtha.2019.02.015
- May 20, 2019
- Ophthalmology
Navigating Social Media in #Ophthalmology
- Research Article
- 10.1016/j.jad.2025.121015
- Mar 1, 2026
- Journal of affective disorders
Recent theory predicts that young people's emotional reactions are important in the impact of social media use on their mental health. Here we explore this using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data measuring social media use and emotion within the 2-week 'Decades-to-minutes' (D2M) study (n=255). Dynamic structural equation modelling (DSEM) was used to examine the within-person relations between social media use and negative emotion (and vice versa), as well as the relations between negative emotions following social media use (defined as the within-person cross-lagged effect of social media use on negative affect) and depression. Results suggested a significant concurrent relation between social media use and negative emotion but no significant association between social media use and later negative emotion, or vice versa. They also suggested no significant relation between negative emotion following social media use and depression but a significant relation between social media inertia (stability of social media use from timepoint to timepoint) and depression. Our study illustrates the feasibility of capturing emotional dynamics in relation to social media use 'in ecological context' and their relations to mental health risk. It suggests that patterns of social media use (e.g., sustained versus intermittent use over and above levels of engagement) merit further research attention in terms of their association with mental health. Recommendations for future research include using shorter inter-prompt intervals to capture more immediate emotional reactions to social media use, and the development of more comprehensive EMA measures of social media use.
- Research Article
11
- 10.1177/08944393211055322
- Jan 20, 2022
- Social Science Computer Review
This study focused on employees’ work-related social media use outside regular work hours and explored its antecedents and outcomes. Drawing from boundary theory and employee-organization relationship management literature, this study investigated how employees’ preference for work–family segmentation and quality employee-organization relationship affected employees’ work-related social media use. In addition, informed by the effort-recovery model, the current study proposed low psychological detachment from work and high work–family conflict as outcomes of work-related social media use. Through an online survey with 815 employees in the United States, findings of the study supported the proposed antecedents and outcomes. Specifically, employees with a stronger preference for segmenting the work from the home domain engaged less in work-related social media use, and in turn, experienced higher levels of psychological detachment from work and less work–family conflict. On the other hand, those who had high-quality relationships with their organizations reported higher engagement levels in work-related social media, which resulted in lower psychological detachment from work and higher work–family conflict.
- Research Article
4
- 10.1007/s10964-025-02205-9
- Jun 26, 2025
- Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Cyberbullying involves aggressive behaviors or threats through digital platforms. Youth who are victims of cyberbullying are at risk for a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems. Given the growing role of social media in adolescent life, understanding its relation to cyberbullying is crucial for prevention and policy. Although numerous studies suggest that social media use predicts cyberbullying victimization, methodological shortcomings limit their ability to infer the etiological role of social media use in cyberbullying victimization at the individual level—an issue this study addresses. A sample from two birth cohorts of children (n = 781, 53.4% girls) in Trondheim, Norway, was assessed biennially through interviews and questionnaires from age 12 to 18. Social media use and cyberbullying were related at the between-person level (i.e., those who use social media more than others were more likely to experience cyberbullying than others). However, within-person increases in self- or other-oriented social media use did not predict future within-person changes in cyberbullying victimization. The vast majority of former studies, which have not explored within-person changes, may have overestimated and overinterpreted the role of social media use in cyberbullying victimization. Efforts to reduce cyberbullying victimization by decreasing individual social media use may have limited effectiveness.
- Research Article
12
- 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200803.12
- Jan 1, 2020
- Journal of Human Resource Management
This study explored social capital theory by investigating the relationship between enterprise social media use (ESM) as measured by an adapted instrument and employee belongingness as measured by the balanced measure of psychological needs (BMPN) scale of employees in USA, moderated by generational age groups. A survey of 155 employees from US corporations was conducted. The results support the theoretical model of social capital as well as three hypothesized relationships. While there was no significant relation between Social-related ESM use and employee belongingness, there was a statistically significant relationship between Work-related ESM use, age generation groups, and employee belongingness. Overall, Generation-X employees showed a higher belongingness score compared to Millennials, and even higher compared to Generation-Z employees. The results indicate that using an internal social media technology for work-related purposes can help employees feel that they belong and are a part of the social makeup of the organization. Work related social media use can also foster greater organizational social capital such as team building resulting in the achievement of organizational objectives and goals. These findings offer implications for research on social capital’s value as an asset for the organization as well as enterprise social media’s ongoing and ever-increasing value.
- Research Article
4
- 10.1016/j.cresp.2024.100196
- Jan 1, 2024
- Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology
Adolescents’ daily social media use and mood during the COVID-19 lockdown period
- Book Chapter
- 10.1007/978-3-031-24687-6_164
- Jan 1, 2023
Gartner (2020) reports that 82% of the US population uses Facebook, followed by Instagram, with 42% using the social media network. Social media provides an opportunity for firms to encourage employees to post on their personal social media about their work. However, firms still terminate the employee for work-related personal social media posts. Loyal employees passionate about the brand could potentially attract new customers by posting work-related content. Thus, an effective marketing strategy could motivate employees to create positive electronic word of mouth (eWOM) for their employers (Zhang et al., 2021) by sharing firms’ posts or work-related posts. Resource advantage theory (RA theory) posits that firms use available resources to achieve competitive advantage and superior financial performance (Hunt & Morgan, 1995). These resources do not need to be owned by firms but are only available to them. For example, Hunt (2014) proposed that skilled and knowledgeable employees are operant resources for firms. Likewise, social media could be viewed as a resource that provides firms with the dynamic capability to facilitate customer engagement. Two research questions guided this exploratory study. R1 aks: Do most employers implement formal social media policies, and does this impact employees’ social media usage related to work? R2 asks: Do frontline employees use social media to connect with customers, or are managers more likely to engage in work-related social media use? The sample for this exploratory study includes B2C salespeople. Qualtrics was used to set up the survey with a panel from Prolific to collect data from marketing, sales, and retail employees. The model tested was a 2 (frontline employee vs. manager) × 2 (employer social media policy vs. no social media policy) MANCOVA with two dependent variables (new customer outreach and communicating with existing customers) from the Landes and Callan (2014). Perceived ease of using social media (Rauniar et al., 2014) as a covariate. The results indicate that a social media policy doesn’t impact work-related social media use, answering R1. However, the position in the firm was significant; thus, R2 is partially answered. Next, we looked at the direction of the means for further insight into the differences. Managers (M = 4.86, SD = 2.80) are far more likely than frontline employees (M = 2.75, SD = 2.03) to use their social media to communicate with existing customers. For reaching out to potential (new) customers, managers (M = 4.94, SD = 1.97) are more likely, but frontline employees (M = 3.19, SD = 2.04) are also a bit more likely to use social media. RA Theory supports the suggestion that employees can serve as effective brand ambassadors by using their social media accounts to communicate with existing and potential customers.
- Abstract
1
- 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.07.521
- Oct 1, 2022
- Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
4.8 Psychoeducation: All About TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, and How Psychiatrists Leverage Social Media for Public Health
- Research Article
18
- 10.1108/ijm-10-2023-0624
- Aug 13, 2024
- International Journal of Manpower
PurposeEmployee green behavior (EGB) is a type of pro-environment behavior at the workplace strategized by organizations to attain sustainable development goals. While organizations have prioritized eco-friendly practices to attain sustainability objectives, EGB has emerged as an essential area of research. Considering the need for sustained employee green behavior, it is important to understand what stimulates such behaviors in an organization. Therefore, we propose a theoretical model grounded in social exchange theory to assess the effect of organizational commitment on employee green behavior, work-related use of social media, social well-being and psychological well-being.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire-based survey approach was used to collect data from 203 employees of Indian manufacturing and service industries. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was applied to examine the proposed hypothesis.FindingsThe results revealed positive and significant effects of organizational commitment on psychological well-being, social well-being, work-related social media use and employee green behavior. Further, psychological well-being mediates the association between work-related social media use and employee green behavior.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to examine the effect of organizational commitment on employee green behavior to the best of our knowledge. Additionally, the findings empirically establish organizational commitment, work-related social media use and psychological well-being as antecedents to employee green behavior, thus offering novel insights and theoretically contributing to the employee green behavior, well-being and organizational literature.
- Research Article
7
- 10.1108/imds-11-2022-0711
- Dec 22, 2023
- Industrial Management & Data Systems
PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effect of social media use on healthcare workers’ psychological safety and task performance and the moderating role of perceived respect from patients during public health crises.Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed moderated mediation model, a survey was conducted in 12 Chinese medical institutions. A total of 637 valid questionnaires were collected for data analysis.FindingsThe results revealed that psychological safety mediated the relationships between task-related social media (TSM) use and social-related social media (SSM) use and task performance. In addition, perceived respect from patients moderated the relationship between TSM use and psychological safety, as well as the indirect relationship between TSM use and task performance through psychological safety.Originality/valueThis study sheds new light on understanding how different types of social media use influence task performance in the context of public health crises. Furthermore, this study considers the interactions of healthcare workers with colleagues and patients and examines the potential synergistic effects of these interactions on healthcare workers’ psychological state and task performance.