Motivations of employees' communicative behaviors on social media: Individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors

Abstract

Purpose

Given that an increasing number of social media platforms allow employees to share company-related information, the present study seeks to understand their complicated motivations for social media behaviors. Specifically, this study explores the antecedents of employees' positive and negative company-related information-sharing intentions on two distinctive social media platforms, personal (e.g. Facebook) and anonymous social networking sites (e.g. Glassdoor).

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was conducted with 419 full-time employees in the United States from various industry sectors.

Findings

Individual (enjoyment, venting negative feelings, and self-enhancement), interpersonal (bonding and bridging ties), and organizational (organization–employee relationship and perceived external prestige) factors are considerably and distinctly associated with employees' behavioral intentions on different social media platforms.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to understand employees' communicative behaviors on social media (sECB) by linking diverse levels of motivational factors: individual, interpersonal, and organizational using a theoretical framework of socioecological model (SEM). This study also provides significant practical guidelines for organizational leaders and platform operators by explicating the dynamics of employee motives in engaging in a variety of social media platforms.

Citation

Lee, Y. (2020), "Motivations of employees' communicative behaviors on social media: Individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors", Internet Research, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 971-994. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-06-2019-0264