The implications of social media use by employees on organizational reputation and productivity

Abstract

Social media usage during the working hours has been an issue for many organizations due to its effect on its reputation and their employee’s productivity (Young, 2010; Liberman et al., 2011; Castilla, 2005; Brooks, 2015). Whilst a number of studies (Vitak, Crouse and LaRose,
2011) have shed the light on the cyberslacking behaviour and its effect on the organizations, there remains a limited understanding on the effect of the employee’s usage of social media during the working hours on organizational reputation and productivity in the United Arab
Emirates. This thesis seeks to address the gap by exploring the behaviour of the Department of Culture & Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT) employees to further understand the triggers behind their personal usage of social media during the working hours. The data was collected during
a qualitative study on 30 employees in DCT and using the theories of practice (Bourdieu, 1977), the affordances theory (Gibson, 1979) and the Cultural toolkit approach (Swidler, 1986). This thesis contributes insights about the main triggers of employees cyberslacking behaviour during the working hours and their understanding of its effect on organizational reputation and productivity. As this thesis followed a qualitative method, the participants self-reported that there is a relation between employees’ awareness of the social media usage, effects and policies on their behaviour. In addition to that, the employee’s relation with their manager’s, happiness and motivation triggers the behaviour of the employee during the working hours. This thesis provides a mechanism for organizations to reduce the employee’s usage of social media during the working hours by having a recommended process to raise the awareness of the employees and have a better understanding of their behaviour.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Aberystwyth University
Supervisor	Sophie Bennett-Gillison (Supervisor)