When Relationships Meet Situations: Exploring the Antecedents of Employee Communication Behaviors on Social Media

Abstract

Grounded in the relationship management theory and the situational theory of publics, this study examines the effects of employees’ perceived relationships with their organization on their situational perceptions and how these perceptions influence their communication behaviors on social media. An integrated model of situational organization–employee relationship is proposed and tested. The study was based on a national survey of 449 employees working at large organizations in the United States. Organization–employee relationships were found to facilitate employees’ problem recognition and level of involvement and to weaken their constraint recognition. Employees with low constraint recognition and high levels of involvement were more likely to seek, process, and share information on social media, whereas those with high problem recognition tended only to process information. This study is one of the first to integrate the relational perspective with the situational perspective. It also offers practical suggestions for large organizations on how to build and maintain quality relationships with employees and improve their communication behaviors on social media.