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Tweet or Fired: An Analysis on the Practice of Managing Public Sector Employees that Engage on Social Media

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study explored the perspectives of six public sector human resource
professionals on social media policies and how it maintains the behavior of employees
that engage on social media. The expansion of technology in the public sector allows
personnel to build relationships with the people they serve and participate in public
forums. As more legislators and professionals use social media for work and personal
matters, they are more likely to face public humiliation and disciplinary punishment over
uncivil behavior. This research shows the public sector institutions in the Indianapolis
area have lenient social media policies. In addition, this research argues that work
policies, i.e., social media, should be modernized and relevant for all cultures.
This dissertation analyzes how social media policies are established and executed
within local government organizations using a multi-method approach. The first phase of
this study surveyed and interviewed human resources professionals. While social media
issues are still relatively new, progressive disciplinary procedures are most likely to be
implemented when an employee engages in uncivil behavior on social media. The Logic
of Appropriateness as the framework for the content analysis of social media policies
from eight local agencies explores how the organizations direct employee behavior. The
analysis findings determine certain public sector institutions in the Indianapolis area have
social media policies for legal protection but place ethical value on respect as an
expectation for employee conduct. This study backs the development of transparent social media policies in public sector agencies, especially since there is a recurring shift
in the generational and cultural background of public representatives.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/29239
Date05 1900
CreatorsKemp, Desmond L.
ContributorsEtienne, Leslie K., Eckerd, Adam, Walker, Marquita, Merritt, Breanca
Source SetsIndiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation

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