Hybrid social media: employees' use of a boundary‐spanning technology. (12th March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Archer‐Brown, Chris; Marder, Ben; Calvard, Thomas; Kowalski, Tina
• Is Part Of: New technology, work and employment. Volume 33:Number 1(2018:Mar.)
• Page Start: 74
• Page End: 93
• Publication Date: 2018-03-12
• Subjects: social media -- boundary management -- workplace relationships -- employee collaboration -- professional networks -- work‐life -- multiple audiences; Labor supply -- Effect of technological innovations on -- Periodicals; 338.064
• DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12103
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-1072

Abstract

Abstract : Improved employee collaboration and communication can be facilitated by social technologies that extend within and beyond organisations. These social technologies have increasingly come to be represented by social media sites, which are used to extend workplace relationships across personal and professional boundaries in a hybrid role. This presents opportunities and risks as those boundaries are collapsed. Using boundary management as a theoretical lens, we evaluate the associations of relationship initiation between colleagues at different levels of organisations with employees' strategies and their well‐being. We also investigate relationships with social media usage, age and propensity to self‐monitor and group employees using cluster analysis. We consider implications of our findings for developing more sophisticated policies, training and guidance for employees on the use of social media as a workplace tool.