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The purpose of this paper is to explore whether internal social media (ISM) introduces a new kind of participatory communication within organizations that is capable of influencing and moving the organization.

The paper is based on two exploratory studies: a multiple case study in ten Danish organizations, and a single case study in a Danish bank.

The paper finds that different types of communication on ISM develop in different types of organizations. Participatory communication capable of changing the organization only develops when coworkers perceive that they have a license to critique. The paper, therefore, proposes to distinguish between three different types of communication arenas created by ISM: a quiet arena, a knowledge-sharing arena and a participatory communication arena.

The research is exploratory and based on two Danish case studies and the perceptions of coworkers and social media coordinators. A deeper, summative analysis of ISM across more and various organizations in multiple countries has to confirm the findings.

The paper conceptualizes ISM as an interactive and dynamic communication arena, and proposes that the participatory communication on ISM is a co-constructed process among coworkers, middle managers and top managers.

The purpose of this article is to critically analyze the existing literature on internal social media (ISM) within the context of internal communication, aiming to provide a more nuanced understanding of the roles of ISM and its potential implications for communicative practices.

Drawing on a problematizing review methodology, the article conducts a critical analysis of a selected body of literature with the aim of problematizing assumptions that form the foundation of existing theories and constructs in the literature on ISM communication.

The article points out two interrelated critical issues that might constrain our understanding, scholarly conversation and theoretical development of the roles of ISM communication in organizations: (1) Philosophical inexplicitness; (2) Ontological inconsistency.

Assuming a communication perspective, the article contributes suggestions for future research on ISM in the context of internal communication, calling for research to: (1) explicitly consider the epistemological implications of philosophical positions, including the view of technology; and (2) foreground meaning creation processes as the analytical point of interest.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges associated with introducing internal social media (ISM) into organizations in order to help them reap the benefits of coworker communication on ISM.

The paper is based on an exploratory study in ten organizations. The data were collected in semi-structured interviews with ISM coordinators in Spring 2014.

According to the ISM coordinators, four challenges were associated with introducing ISM: coworkers could perceive communication on ISM as not work related; coworkers might not understand the informal nature of communication on ISM, and self-censorship might stop them communicating on ISM; ISM was not considered a “natural” part of the daily routines in the organizations; and top managers mainly supported ISM in words, not in action.

The study is based on the perceptions of ISM coordinators. Further research is called for to explore both coworker perceptions and actual communication on ISM.

Practitioners introducing ISM should be aware of these four challenges, and should help coworkers to make sense of communication on ISM as work-related communication among coworkers. ISM coordinators’ perceptions of their own role in relation to coworker communication on ISM make a difference.

The study provides insights into the key challenges associated with introducing ISM, as well as the role of ISM coordinators as community facilitators and sense-givers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore employees’ perceptions of enablers and barriers to engage in multi-vocal dialogues about ideas (ideation) on internal social media (ISM) within a context of corporate communication.

This exploratory study is based on four data sets: online observations of employee ideation on ISM from 2011 to 2018, semi-structured interviews and informal conversations with two managers (2015–2016), archival material, and semi-structured interviews with 14 employees (2017–2018) in a large, knowledge-intensive Danish organization.

The study identified various enablers and barriers to engagement related to psychological engagement conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability. Managers’ communication role or importance of innovation, as well as tensions, e.g. obligation vs option to ideate or employee influence vs no influence, were identified as enabling or constraining employee engagement in ideation on ISM.

Broadening interviews to include employees who decided not to participate in online ideation would increase insights and nuance this study’s results.

Managers need to be aware of the psychological engagement conditions and balance identified enablers, barriers and tensions by acknowledging communication reciprocity on ISM. Not only employees, but also managers, are dialogue partners in employee ideation on ISM.

The study is one of the first to explore enablers of and barriers to psychological engagement conditions in a context central to corporate communication, namely internal innovation communication on ISM, and to study ideation from a coworker perspective.

The study explores internal listening on internal social media (ISM) during a crisis at a large Danish hospital.

The study employs a netnographic qualitative design to analyze 142 posts shared by employees on the hospital's ISM platform “The Word is Free” and how these posts are listened to by employees, support functions and management.

The study finds seven different types of internal listening. Categories of vertical listening included respectful listening, delegated listening, formal listening and no listening, while horizontal listening included confirmatory listening, responsive listening, challenging listening and no listening.

The study focuses on listening on ISM between January 2019 and March 2022. Interviews with employees and managers are needed to further investigate how internal listening at the hospital influences organizational life both in general and during a crisis.

Especially in crisis situations, organizations are encouraged to approach ISM with a holistic understanding of listening and apply three principles: (1) embrace ISM as an employee communication arena where confirmatory, responsive and challenging listening among employees helps them to cope with strenuous situations; (2) monitor the ISM communication arena and (3) conduct respectful listening.

This study focuses on internal listening on ISM during a crisis and suggests a holistic understanding of internal listening that combines vertical and horizontal listening.

Internal social media (ISM) make it possible for all employees to participate in knowledge sharing and decision-making and to voice their opinions. However, several studies have found that organizations are far from unlocking the full potential of ISM. This paper seeks to explore and explain this gap further by adopting a sensemaking lens to managers' understanding of a social intranet in a public sector organization.

A longitudinal case study of the process of introducing ISM was conducted in a Danish municipality. Before, during and after the launch of the intranet, interviews with department heads and communication managers in the six different municipal departments were carried out to explore how they made sense of the purpose of ISM.

Findings indicate that during the process of introducing and implementing ISM, department heads' and managers' narratives about the purpose of the intranet changed from being a matter of involving, engaging and hearing the voices of the employees to being an effective administrative tool and a channel for management to reach all employees.

Rather than the traditional focus on whether ISM fail or succeed, the paper offers new understandings of how managers' sensemaking of ISM changes over time, leading to changes in the actual usage of and communication on ISM.

This study explores interactions on internal social media (ISM) in a Danish bank in order to understand how communicative leadership is enacted in social media dialogues within an organizational context. Three months of posts, comments and likes from September to November 2018 were analyzed to identify communicative leadership roles and communicative leadership behaviours. Three types of communicative leadership arose in this study: formal communicative leadership, coconstructed communicative leadership and peer communicative leadership. Communicative leadership was further identified in communicative acts such as setting directions, making sense, solving problems and listening. The findings suggest that communicative leadership is coconstructed in interactions between managers and employees as well as in interactions among employees. In this respect, communicative leadership on ISM is not only enacted by formal managers but aslo by knowledgeable individual organizational members and it is also coconstructed by groups of employees. In this respect, the findings help us understand leadership as a complex set of interactions in organizational contexts and know that empowering communication on ISM can therefore enhance employee engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the discursive tactics that employees use when they speak up on internal social media (ISM) to gain support for their cause, and how this can develop into a “spiral of voice” when organizational members interact with each other on ISM.

The study is based on screenshots of four months of coworker communication on ISM in a Danish bank and on semi-structured interviews with 24 employees.

Employees succeeded in speaking up and gaining support on ISM by using eight different discursive tactics. These tactics helped move organizational issues from an operational to a strategic level, thus making the issues relevant for management as well as gaining the support of other coworkers. The visibility and persistence of communication on ISM forced managers to react.

Further research should investigate whether similar tactics and reactions occur in organizations with a less open communication culture where it might be less safe for employees to speak up.

Organizations need to be aware of the dynamics of the “spiral of voice” and of the way in which the visibility and persistence of communication on ISM forces managers to handle organizational issues.

This study is the first to explore what happens when employees speak up on ISM and to propose the concept of “a spiral of voice” as an extension of the theory of “the spiral of silence” (Noelle-Neumann, 1974).

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Firms should acknowledge and act upon employee views and concerns, especially during times of crisis. Technologies like internal social media (ISM) enable employees to have a voice that must elicit appropriate responses through engagement with relevant types of vertical and horizontal listening.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This article explores how employees in a public sector organization (PSO) make sense of the introduction of a social intranet and new employee communication roles. The aim is to understand employee sensemaking and how sensemaking influences the change process within the organization.

The article is based on a case study in a Danish PSO with 30,000 employees. The empirical material includes strategic documents, online observations and seven focus groups with employees conducted before, during and after the introduction of a new social intranet.

The employees found that making sense of the purpose with the social intranet is difficult. A managerial approach to change communication could easily result in employees' frustrations and concerns being dismissed as signs of resistance to change. From a communication perspective, the findings reveal that the employees engaged in seven different sensemaking enactments.

Change cannot be understood simply as something that employees are for or against. Instead, a change process should be perceived as a set of communication processes or sensemaking enactments happening in interactions between employees that can act in favor of, against or neutrally toward change.

Managers and communication professionals can interact with the seven sensemaking enactments, and some tentative initiatives are suggested in the article.

The article explores the employee perspective in a change process in a PSO and identifies seven employee sensemaking enactments highlighting that change happens in communication processes.