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Social media use and belongingness: How is following leaders and colleagues on social media related to employees’ feeling of belongingness to the organization?

Stranadko, Daria; Johansen, Lillian Serena Båkind
Master thesis
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URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2687660
Date
2020
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  • Master of Science [1530]
Abstract
Humans are perceived to be strongly dependent on the group members (Over,

2016), and psychology scholars state that humans have a fundamental need to be

socially connected to others (Maslow, 1968). Further, the research on

belongingness provides evidence that humans have a fundamental need to belong

and a motivation to fulfil this need (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Nonetheless, there

is a lack of research and literature on the sense of belongingness concerning

organizational employees in particular.

In this study, we investigate whether there is a relationship between following

leaders or colleagues on social media and employees’ feeling of belongingness to

the organization, as well as what factors could have moderating effects on the

relationship. We propose six models that guide our research, and to explore the

relationships we use data collected from an online survey with 69 participants. The

participants work in a well-known Norwegian food-producing company where the

CEO is known to be active on social media. The data analysis shows that the

relationship between following leaders on social media and employees’ feeling of

belongingness to the company is non-significant. Likewise, the data analysis shows

that the moderating effects are not significant either.

However, two of the propositions are partially supported by the data, and the

descriptive analysis has led to important findings being established. The study

contributes to the gap in the current literature by exploring how following

colleagues on social media can be a predictor of employees’ feeling of

belongingness to the workplace, that has not been previously examined.

Furthermore, our findings suggest that the number of colleagues followed on social

media is positively associated with employees’ feeling of belongingness. Moreover,

the study highlights the importance of having an active official company’s social

media profile and promoting it among employees, since following it is positively

correlated with following colleagues on social media, which relevance and

importance are described in the paper. Ultimately, practical implications,

limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Description
Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Psychology - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2020/Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Business, Leadership and Change - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2020
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Handelshøyskolen BI

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