Abstract
Social media has become a platform for the daily exchange of information. Although some studies have explored the role and influence of social media on career development, few have examined how daily social media use impacts individuals’ perceptions and emotions regarding their careers. The present study examined this issue using two surveys. We predicted that social comparison would mediate the link between social media usage and its psychological impact. Moreover, we hypothesized that the impact would be mitigated by social interactions (companionship). Study 1 (a self-reported survey that included 309 Japanese employees) demonstrated that viewing other users’ positive posts about their careers could lead to career frustration through social comparison. Concurrently, this study revealed that daily casual interaction with others reduced career frustration. Study 2 was based on an analysis of 1,254 responses obtained from a 7-day experience sampling method survey. It revealed that viewing other people’s career-related posts was associated with upward, downward, and non-directional social comparison. In turn, upward social comparison evoked career frustration at both between- and within-person levels, while downward comparison decreased career frustration at a between-person level. Similar to Study 1, the results of Study 2 indicated that career frustration was mitigated by casual communication with others. Both studies provide evidence that (1) daily social media use affects one’s perception and feelings about their career through social comparison, and (2) career frustration evoked through virtual interactions with others is mitigated by casual interactions in a face-to-face setting.
Highlights
The nature and environment of careers have dramatically changed over the past several decades (e.g., Arthur, 1994; Hall, 2004; Sullivan and Baruch, 2009)
Based on the result of the correlation analysis with age, and of the t-test with gender, we decided to exclude these variables in the subsequent analysis
The χ2 and comparative fit index (CFI) suggested a good fit of the model [χ2(43) = 197.965 (p < 0.01), CFI = 0.953]; the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was slightly elevated, at 0.108
Summary
The nature and environment of careers have dramatically changed over the past several decades (e.g., Arthur, 1994; Hall, 2004; Sullivan and Baruch, 2009). The effects of companionship on career-related stress is not yet known, the research on anxiety reduction (Conwell et al, 2021) and work-related stress reduction means that it is conceivable that companionship alleviates anxiety and negative emotional states about one’s career This led us to the second hypothesis, as follows: changes that may be overlooked in retrospective assessments (Hofmann et al, 2012; Hofmann and Patel, 2015). Ram et al (2014) used smartphones and a web-based survey to employ an ESM protocol in their study on daily casual interactions and affective changes Given these previous findings, we adopted the ESM to examine the associations between career-related social comparison in daily social media use and companionship, as well as the associated psychological changes. The relatively recent development of portable information devices, such as smartphones, means that the ESM has been used with increasing frequency, and has been demonstrated to be an effective method for capturing the everyday psychological
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
