Social Media Networking: As Facilitator of Acculturation

Abstract

Globalization has made the whole world a single market for the consumer as well as for employees in terms of employment opportunities. This phenomenon, resulted in acculturation problems for global enterprises. The tension/stress of cultural adjustment at a new workplace with their own culture results in adverse effects the employee’s mental and physical health. Organizations are trying to utilize social media networking as a solution to this challenge and even employees it using as a mean to learn the culture of the organization. With the objective to explore the impact of social media networking on the acculturation of employees, the sample of 735 employees of various IT companies using the social networking platform of their organization taken, and data collected through a standardized questionnaire of 22 items, and analyzed using EFA and OLS techniques. The study resulted in a positive significant impact of social media on the acculturation of employees, however, there is a difference in employee behavior towards social media on the geographical basis.