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This empirical paper aims to assess how social media can foster workplace learning within a globally dispersed project environment. In general, there are few studies on the use of social media in organizations, and many of these emphasize on issues related to knowledge transfer. Although learning traditionally has been as acquisition of knowledge, increasingly researchers point to learning-as-participation occurring through work collaboration. Social media promise increased opportunities for communication and collaboration, extending the context of collaboration beyond the local setting. However, there exists limited research on how social media can foster workplace learning, for example, between globally dispersed colleagues.

The study is based on an exploratory, in-depth single case study of an international professional service firm’s implementation of an internal wiki system to address the research question: how are social media utilized in an organization to foster workplace learning among its dispersed individual experts? Data are gathered in 35 semi-structured interviews, as well as documents studies and observations. Data are coded and analyzed utilizing the context and learning factors of workplace learning.

The paper shows how the wiki system enables hybrid knowledge management strategies linked to virtual collaboration on daily project tasks, involving documentation, search, interaction and knowledge exchange, as well as socialization and learning from practice among dispersed groups and individuals. The learning mechanisms involved in virtual collaboration do not differ much from what is reported on face-to-face workplace learning, however, the context factors are extended beyond the local setting.

The findings identify four determinants for using the wiki that can be of use to other organizations implementing similar virtual collaboration technology. First, the wiki must directly relate to the daily work by offering interactive and updated information concerning current project challenges. Second, the system must enable transparency in the daily project work to allow search. Third, the intention with the search is of lesser degree to identify encyclopedic information than it is to visualize individual competence. Fourth, the quality assurance of the data posted at the wiki is important.

The study reveals how an international knowledge-based organization can utilize social media to leverage knowledge and experiences from multiple geographically dispersed projects by enabling virtual collaboration. Extant empirical research on workplace learning emphasizes on face-to-face interactions in groups, for example, when engineers, or accountants, in teams interact and collaborate at client premises. However, there exists limited knowledge concerning how workplace learning can be achieved through virtual collaboration.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of social media usage (SMU) and relational energy on employees' workplace spirituality within an organization from a psychological perspective.

This study proposes a research model based on self-determination theory. This research model was tested using a cross-level hierarchical regression analysis. Data were collected from 276 knowledge workers on 39 teams in 37 enterprises in China.

SMU has a significant positive impact on employees' relational energy and workplace spirituality. Relational energy partially mediates the relationships of cognitive usage and social usage of social media with workplace spirituality and fully mediates the relationship between hedonic usage of social media and workplace spirituality. Inclusive leadership positively affects workplace spirituality and acts as a negative cross-level moderating variable on the relationship between hedonic usage and workplace spirituality.

This work suggested that with appropriate SMU implications, enterprises might be able to integrate spirituality into human resource management practices to improve employees' meaningful life experiences within organizations.

The authors’ findings not only help to theoretically clarify the relationship between SMU and workplace spirituality but also enrich the relevant research on SMU in enterprises to improve employees' spiritual life within the organization.

Competitive pressure and social influence for technology adoption have increased among developed, developing and emerging countries. The influence of social structure, organizational forces and political forces varies between public sector hospitals in countries where there are more social media restrictions. This study aims to explore how the use of social media can influence employee engagement and productivity in the workplaces of public sector hospitals.

The study follows a social constructivist approach to understand employee attitudes, motivation culture, political forces and the local context. Data were collected from health professionals of five public sector hospitals using a non-directive and semi-structured interview method.

The results show that the use of social media sites has increased collaboration, coordination and cooperation among health professionals, especially in critical situations. They are more socialized, connected and engaged, thus helping them to exchange useful knowledge using instant messaging apps. Conversely, there are no organizational polices and specific laws and too little support from management and senior doctors to drive the use of social networking sites in public hospitals. The use of social media has enhanced health professionals' engagement and productivity as they are able to share their expertise, knowledge and information with their colleagues and subordinates.

The results can guide policy-makers, researchers, hospitals, doctors and the Ministry of Health about the positive use of social networking sites in the workplace. The positive use of social networking sites in the workplace can enhance information, knowledge and coordination which may help to enhance employee engagement and productivity.

The present study has provided a social media health organization workplace (SMHOW) model which explains how individual and organizational contexts can influence the actual use of social media in healthcare organizations.

The purpose of this study is to understand the scope and nature of information sharing as a form of workplace learning among gig workers.

Data were collected from public social media communities of gig workers in Thailand. In total, 338 posts and 3,022 comments on the posts were analyzed (data corpus N = 3,360). Thailand was selected for the context of this study given its high level of social media penetration, a high percentage of digital service consumption of internet users and the prevalence of app-based gig workers. This study used thematic analysis using inductive and semantic coding to generate themes.

Findings showed two overarching themes of information sharing, which included on-the-job experience and inquiries. One surprising finding was the extent to which gig workers used social media to help others even when it potentially undermined their success.

This study adds evidence to the role of information sharing in workplace learning and illustrates how gig workers who do not have access to traditional training and learning opportunities use social media communities to fill this need.

Given the surge of digitalization and internet infrastructure leading to the rise of gig work worldwide, this study provides a closer look at how gig workers are using social media communities to facilitate workplace learning and support one another amid otherwise difficult and insecure working conditions. It also discusses the role that culture plays in facilitating a cooperative rather than a competitive environment among drivers.

Employees have gradually adopted social media sites and their applications that have been associated with enhanced communication and collaboration at the workplace. However, social technologies have both positive as well as negative consequences. The current study examines the impact of loneliness on employees' psychological well-being (PW); subsequently, the mediating role of social media use intensity (SMI) at the workplace. It also examines the moderating role of gender and management status of employees.

The present study conducted an online and offline survey using a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from 206 working professionals from the IT industry in India. Structural equation modelling was applied to analyse data.

Results revealed that employee loneliness is positively associated with SMI. Employee's SMI was positively associated with enhanced PW. Unexpectedly, employee loneliness is positively and significantly related to PW. However, the moderating roles of gender and management status of employees were not supported.

The current study can help managers, policymakers and organizations better understand the role of employee social media use in the workplace. Using the insights and understanding offered by the study, social media can be effectively utilized in the workplace. The study recommends that organizations may allow the use of social media at the workplace. Social media resources may also be helpful in improving employee communication and digital literacy.

The current study is a pioneer work and contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between loneliness, SMI and PW. This study has essential theoretical and managerial contributions.

Many fresh graduates have unrealistic career expectations. When reality sets in after graduation, they may be disappointed. Due to factors such as the limited availability of feasible alternative career options, employees who have to stay in jobs they dislike may feel trapped. To alleviate the resulting stresses, they may engage in avoidance coping strategies, such as non-work-related social media use, to discharge their mental strains. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the perception of being trapped can result in the adoption of avoidance coping strategies, and how these strategies can influence individual performance and social media use.

Based on the literature on avoidance coping strategy, goal orientation theory, and performance theory, the authors proposed a theoretical model on how the avoidance coping strategy of an individual can influence their performance and workplace behavior.

The authors propose that when a fresh graduate feels “trapped” in a job, the stresses experienced may cause them to hide behind their defense mechanisms. An avoidance coping strategy may then be adopted, and this will influence the individual’s workplace behavior (in terms of non-work-related use of social media) and performance.

If an avoidance coping strategy is an antecedent to non-work-related use of social media, then controlling the use of social media in the workplace may only cause these employees to switch to other forms of self-distraction (for instance, spending more time chatting with colleagues). Under some circumstances, the use of such control mechanisms may even give cyberloafers stronger urges to use social media for non-work-related purposes. If this is the case, managers should reconsider their current approach in handling the related behavior.

If the cause of non-work-related use of social media in the workplace is an avoidance coping strategy, then the engagement of such workplace behaviors should not be considered “intentionally harmful actions”. One important criterion for workplace behavior to qualify as a type of counterproductive behavior is that such behavior must be conducted to be intentionally harmful. Given this, the resulting actions of an avoidance coping strategy should not be considered a form of counterproductive behavior, and the authors should reconsider the conceptualization of cyberloafing provided in the organizational literature.

The authors believe that this research represents one of the first attempts to bridge the gap between clinical and managerial literature. It attempts to explain non-work-related use of social media in the workplace from the perspective of trapped perception and avoidance coping strategy, and it argues that not all forms of non-work-related use of social media in the workplace are instances of cyberloafing.

With the increase of social media usage in the workplace as a background, this paper specifically addresses social media efficacy's and social media privacy's impact on supervisor and subordinate trust, affective organizational commitment (AOC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through the theoretical lens of communication privacy management (CPM) theory.

An online survey of 337 full- and part-time workers was conducted.

Path models showed that social media efficacy positively influenced social media privacy which in turn impacted both supervisor trust and subordinate trust. Supervisor trust was positively related to AOC, while subordinate trust positively influenced OCB. t-tests revealed differences between workers who have social media relationships with supervisors and/or subordinates and those workers without such relationships.

If workers believe they are adept at using social media, they will also be less concerned about the company's ability to infringe upon privacy through unwanted access to social media content. If social media efficacy drives perceptions of social media privacy and indirectly influences trust and organizational outcomes then it may be worthwhile for organizations to help enhance workers' feelings of social media efficacy through professional development programs.

This study is the first to extend research on workplace communication privacy into the realm of social media. Social media relationships also influence the work environment. These findings can be used as information in future research as well as policy development and professional development programs.

The purpose of this study is to identify the role of social media in implementing effective organizational change. The study illuminates how social media applications support the antecedents of organizational change in the workplace.

The study followed an interpretive approach based on qualitative design and grounded theory using 41 non-directive and semi-structured interviews with change leaders and change recipients. These respondents were chosen using purposive sampling and thematic analysis was then performed using NVivo 11-Plus software.

This research highlights how social media applications can be used to overcome the challenges of organizational change implementation. The findings of the study illuminate various emerging themes such as social media applications are beneficial for fostering knowledge sharing about change processes and enhancing effective communication during change formulation and implementation. It can increase the level of trust and participation in decision-making and decrease the level of resistance to change. Also, it can enhance the level of support for change acceptance in the workplace.

Social media application (SMAs) are helpful to foster informal, constructive and relevant discussion with respect to routines organizational tasks, employee concerns about new changes, information about job security and financial and non-financial benefits after change implementation. The effective and efficient use of SMAs helps organizations to foster knowledge amongst employees and they can address various critical issues i.e. employee uncertainties about change initiatives, social consensus on the solution of problems and interactive communication among social actors within a network.

The study represents an effort to explore seldom-researched aspects such as the role of social media in the context of change formulation and implementation at the workplace. Social media applications have become popular across the world and the speed of their usage is rising day by day, but their real contribution toward organizational change has not yet been fully understood.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employees use anonymous social media to cope with organizational change, which may affect various engagement outcomes. Specifically, this study focuses on change communication from management (i.e. top–down communication) and workplace freedom of speech (i.e. bottom–up communication) as potential antecedents of anonymous communication. In turn, commitment, turnover intention and job satisfaction are examined as engagement outcomes.

An online survey was conducted at Microsoft through Blind, a mobile platform for anonymous communication at work. A series of regression models were used to test hypotheses.

Results demonstrate that: the quality of change communication was related to anonymous social media use for information and support seeking; workplace freedom of speech was related to anonymous social media use for expressing ideas; perceived usefulness and trustworthiness of anonymous social media positively affected the usage of them; and the quality of change communication and workplace freedom of speech were linked to affective commitment and job satisfaction.

Despite the growing popularity of anonymous social media at work, their use and influences have received scarce empirical attention. This study advances the authors’ knowledge of the antecedents, characteristics and outcomes of anonymous social media use in a work environment characterized by frequent organizational changes. The findings also highlight the significance of communication qualities and freedom of speech at work.