The use of social networks, as a business tool is becoming more and more frequent in
this day and age. Companies are exploring various ways in which to optimise social
media in gaining a competitive advantage. Social platforms give organisations the ability
to communicate better with their staff, to market their products more effectively to
potential customers and also to drive behaviour within the workplace.
Employee engagement, sense of belonging and organisational commitment can be
considered as components of employee well-being. Companies are investing large
amounts of resources to lower employee turnover by creating an environment that is
favourable for the employee.
Within the call centre environment a well established technological infrastructure exists.
This creates a setting that is very prone to launch a social media platform. The average
age of employees is also quite young, which in most cases means that they understand
and interact on social networks with ease. The applications for social media also seems
to become second nature for younger generations and this also speaks volumes as to
implement social network strategies within working environments.
The experimental research design included a pre- and post assessment with samples of
74 employees for the pre-test and 36 employees for the post test. A qualitative and
quantitative approach was utilised in order to gain better insight of what employees
define as social networks and what effect it has on employees. To measure the various
constructs, the following instruments were utilised: Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), a self-constructed Sense of Belonging Questionnaire and the Affective
Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (AOC).
The results indicated that the exposure to a social network resulted in lower levels of
employee engagement and lower levels of sense of belonging. The exposure to a social
network however increased the levels of participants? affective organisational
commitment. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/4413 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Swartz, Ivan Christo |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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