The normalization of social media as a workplace tool

Ben Marder; Tom Calvard; Tina Kowalski; Aliette Lambert; Chris Archer-Brown

The normalization of social media as a workplace tool

Ben Marder, Tom Calvard, Tina Kowalski, Aliette Lambert, Chris Archer-Brown

Management

Research output: Contribution to conference › Other › peer-review

Abstract

As with social life, social network sites (SNSs) have permeated the organizational milieu, proving in some cases ? e.g., LinkedIn ? to be innovative workplace tools. However, in this paper we are interested in the inclusion and normalization of personal social media networks in the context of the workplace and the effects on the well-being of employees. Given both its position as arguably the largest social media platform and its personal nature, our paper focuses on Facebook. Because of its reputation for reflecting behavior that often transgresses professional boundaries, Facebook is understood to be a less appropriate social media tool to extend to workplace relationships. We explore this preconception, demonstrating through our findings that Facebook has become normalized in the workplace and thus may be an effective workplace tool. To that end, we propose a normalization thesis suggesting that Facebook norms have evolved and are now reflective of ?everyday? social norms; thus, user behavior has adapted accordingly vis-à-vis the use of Facebook in the workplace. We demonstrate this development by testing the normalization thesis from a number of perspectives related to employee well-being (emotional responses, workplace factors and personality traits). Our findings indicate that Facebook use ? and potentially the use of other personal SNSs ? has become routinized and embedded to the extent that we identify no significant barriers to the extension of Facebook to workplace relationships. These findings reflect the maturity of social media and have important implications for understanding (potentially innovative) social media use, the workplace, and increasingly blurred boundaries between work and social life.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 2015

Cite this

@conference{2bfc08cfd4e747588c83915cd530ab1f,

title = "The normalization of social media as a workplace tool",

abstract = "As with social life, social network sites (SNSs) have permeated the organizational milieu, proving in some cases ? e.g., LinkedIn ? to be innovative workplace tools. However, in this paper we are interested in the inclusion and normalization of personal social media networks in the context of the workplace and the effects on the well-being of employees. Given both its position as arguably the largest social media platform and its personal nature, our paper focuses on Facebook. Because of its reputation for reflecting behavior that often transgresses professional boundaries, Facebook is understood to be a less appropriate social media tool to extend to workplace relationships. We explore this preconception, demonstrating through our findings that Facebook has become normalized in the workplace and thus may be an effective workplace tool. To that end, we propose a normalization thesis suggesting that Facebook norms have evolved and are now reflective of ?everyday? social norms; thus, user behavior has adapted accordingly vis-{\`a}-vis the use of Facebook in the workplace. We demonstrate this development by testing the normalization thesis from a number of perspectives related to employee well-being (emotional responses, workplace factors and personality traits). Our findings indicate that Facebook use ? and potentially the use of other personal SNSs ? has become routinized and embedded to the extent that we identify no significant barriers to the extension of Facebook to workplace relationships. These findings reflect the maturity of social media and have important implications for understanding (potentially innovative) social media use, the workplace, and increasingly blurred boundaries between work and social life.",

author = "Ben Marder and Tom Calvard and Tina Kowalski and Aliette Lambert and Chris Archer-Brown",

year = "2015",

language = "English",

}

TY - CONF

T1 - The normalization of social media as a workplace tool

AU - Marder, Ben

AU - Calvard, Tom

AU - Kowalski, Tina

AU - Lambert, Aliette

AU - Archer-Brown, Chris

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - As with social life, social network sites (SNSs) have permeated the organizational milieu, proving in some cases ? e.g., LinkedIn ? to be innovative workplace tools. However, in this paper we are interested in the inclusion and normalization of personal social media networks in the context of the workplace and the effects on the well-being of employees. Given both its position as arguably the largest social media platform and its personal nature, our paper focuses on Facebook. Because of its reputation for reflecting behavior that often transgresses professional boundaries, Facebook is understood to be a less appropriate social media tool to extend to workplace relationships. We explore this preconception, demonstrating through our findings that Facebook has become normalized in the workplace and thus may be an effective workplace tool. To that end, we propose a normalization thesis suggesting that Facebook norms have evolved and are now reflective of ?everyday? social norms; thus, user behavior has adapted accordingly vis-à-vis the use of Facebook in the workplace. We demonstrate this development by testing the normalization thesis from a number of perspectives related to employee well-being (emotional responses, workplace factors and personality traits). Our findings indicate that Facebook use ? and potentially the use of other personal SNSs ? has become routinized and embedded to the extent that we identify no significant barriers to the extension of Facebook to workplace relationships. These findings reflect the maturity of social media and have important implications for understanding (potentially innovative) social media use, the workplace, and increasingly blurred boundaries between work and social life.

AB - As with social life, social network sites (SNSs) have permeated the organizational milieu, proving in some cases ? e.g., LinkedIn ? to be innovative workplace tools. However, in this paper we are interested in the inclusion and normalization of personal social media networks in the context of the workplace and the effects on the well-being of employees. Given both its position as arguably the largest social media platform and its personal nature, our paper focuses on Facebook. Because of its reputation for reflecting behavior that often transgresses professional boundaries, Facebook is understood to be a less appropriate social media tool to extend to workplace relationships. We explore this preconception, demonstrating through our findings that Facebook has become normalized in the workplace and thus may be an effective workplace tool. To that end, we propose a normalization thesis suggesting that Facebook norms have evolved and are now reflective of ?everyday? social norms; thus, user behavior has adapted accordingly vis-à-vis the use of Facebook in the workplace. We demonstrate this development by testing the normalization thesis from a number of perspectives related to employee well-being (emotional responses, workplace factors and personality traits). Our findings indicate that Facebook use ? and potentially the use of other personal SNSs ? has become routinized and embedded to the extent that we identify no significant barriers to the extension of Facebook to workplace relationships. These findings reflect the maturity of social media and have important implications for understanding (potentially innovative) social media use, the workplace, and increasingly blurred boundaries between work and social life.

M3 - Other

ER -