Employees' social media use and its potential links with work-related outcomes have received significant scholarly attention in recent years. The existing studies, however, demonstrated mixed findings and the impact of social media use on employee outcomes remains inconclusive. The current debate on employees' social media use points to the need for a meta-analysis on this particular issue, as it could help provide a more conclusive summary to resolve the inconsistency across studies. This meta-analysis study reviewed empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals from 2009 to 2018 with the aim to provide robust conclusions about the relationships between employees' social media use and employee outcomes (i.e., job performance, innovative performance, job satisfaction, work engagement, emotional exhaustion and work-life conflict) and to explore the moderators of these associations. A total of 29 journal articles were examined in this thesis. The results of the random-effects model suggested that social media use, in general, has positive and small effects on job performance, job satisfaction, work engagement, and work-life conflict. Its effect on emotional exhaustion, however, was significant but negligible. In addition, a positive but non-significant association was found between social media use and innovative performance. The sub-group and meta-regression analyses further identified the moderators among the positive associations found. Specifically, purpose of social media use and culture moderated the effects of social media use on both job performance and job satisfaction; job position moderated the association between social media use and job satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications from the results of this study, the limitations of the present meta-analysis, and directions for future research were discussed.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / In a relatively very short period the Internet has grown from being virtually unknown to becoming an essential business tool. Together with its many benefits, the Internet has unfortunately brought with it several new organisational challenges. One of these challenges is how to manage personal Web usage (PWU) in the workplace effectively. Although many managers see PWU as a form of workplace deviance, many researchers have pointed out its potential benefits such as learning, time-saving, employee well-being and a source of ideas. To help organisations manage PWU in the workplace more effectively, this research realised the need for a typology of PWU behaviours in the South African workplace. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was identified as an objective method of creating such a typology. The objective of this research was therefore to develop an instrument to gather data for a multidimensional scaling study of PWU behaviours in the South African workplace. A questionnaire was designed that consists of three distinct sections. The first section contains seven pre-coded demographics questions that correspond with specific demographic variables, proven to have a relationship with PWU. The second section of the questionnaire is designed to gather dissimilarity data for input into an MDS algorithm. To begin with, 25 Web usage behaviours of South Africans were identified using Google Ad Planner. After weighing up various options of comparing the Web usage behaviours, the pairwise comparison method was selected. Ross sequencing was used to reduce positioning and timing effects. To reduce the number of judgements per participant, the 300 required judgments are split six ways, resulting in 50 judgements per participant. The last section of the questionnaire is designed to gather data to assist with interpreting the dimensions of the MDS configuration. Eight benefits and risks of PWU were identified. These are combined into a matrix together with the 25 Web usage behaviours. The data from this section will allow future research to use linear regression to discover the relationship between the Web usage behaviours (the objects), and the benefits and risks of PWU (the variables). It is believed that this design offers a fair compromise between the time and effort required of participants and the quality and integrity of the acquired data.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-140).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Although social comparison has been studied for over 60 years, little research has been done to determine the effects it has on the workplace. Moreover, the explosion of social networking sites and their potential impact on the workplace have been largely overlooked by organizational researchers. Therefore, this study will attempt to evaluate the effect social comparison, specifically through social media, has on work relevant outcomes such as one’s job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and entitlement, moderated by materialism (relevance) and job expectations (attainability) of the referent other. Participants selected from an alumni database of a large Midwestern University were asked to view a manipulated Facebook newsfeed page and then complete a brief survey (N=290). A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to assess the hypotheses. Results, implications, and limitations are also discussed.