Social media (self-)governance? A mixed-method study on the content and drivers of work-related social media use

Abstract

While practitioners question whether employees’ work-related social media use is a blessing or curse, few scholars have studied the content of employees’ social media posts. Moreover, organizations increasingly regulate employees’ online presence through social media governance tools, but research on their effectiveness is lacking. With an online survey among 502 Belgian employees, we quantitatively examined how social media governance affects employees’ online branding behavior. Additionally, we asked participants to share a recent work-related social media post with us, and explain why they posted it. Quantitative findings indicate that employees’ branding behavior on social media is mostly driven by their identification and relationship with their organization. Regarding the influence of social media governance, guidelines and rewards affect branding behavior positively, while a ban and punishments can have a destructive impact through reactance. When we qualitatively zoom in on employees’ work-related posts, these are mainly positive, organization-related and used for organizational promotion.