Exposure to colleagues’ social media content and workplace relationships

Abstract

The increasing rate of technological advancement has driven social media into the centre of certain aspects of an individual's life and indicates the need to understand the potential implications that this may have for organisations and their workforces. This study aims to explore the phenomenon of impression management and online boundary management in social media among professional and skilled employees in South Africa corporate environment in relation to their exposure to their colleagues' social media content and the influence this has on their informal workplace relationships. The study seeks to gain a better understanding of how individuals in these contexts form impressions of their colleagues based on their social media content, the influence of this on their relationships, and how they attempt to handle the potential effects of this exposure, relative to their relationship with their colleagues. The findings of this study suggest that there is no clear environmental context that can direct this. However, the findings did suggest that organisations could benefit from putting clear and regular social media policies and trainings into effect. The study utilised a qualitative, exploratory research design. A total of 13 professional and skilled employees in the South African corporate environment were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The study used a two-pronged non-probability sampling strategy using snowball sampling and purposive sampling to attempt to recruit a sample that was representative of the diversity that exists in South African corporate environments. The data collected from the 13 interviews were analysed and coded into themes in relation to the research questions using Thematic Content analysis.