The structurational model of identification is applied to test structures that may lead to sharing organizational membership on social media and increased organizational identification. We propose and test how antecedents (e.g., social media use, organizational prestige) relate to acts of identification on social media and promote organizational identification. United States working adults (N = 303) responded to an online survey about hypothesized motivational structures, online disclosures of organizational affiliation, and organizational identification. Results show three specific structures significantly predicted one’s willingness to share her or his organizational affiliation across social media: personae overlap, social media use, and organizational prestige. Commitment and turnover intentions were, surprisingly, not direct predictors of organizational affiliation disclosure. Implications for individuals, organizations, and both organizational and computer-mediated theory are presented.
AlbertS.AshforthB. E.DuttonJ. E. (2000). Organizational identity and identification: Charting new waters and building new bridges. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 13–17. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2000.2791600
2.
AshforthB. E. (2016). Distinguished scholar invited essay: Exploring identity and identification in organizations: Time for some course corrections. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 23(4), 361–373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051816667897
BartelsJ.van VuurenM.OuwerkerkJ. W. (2019). My colleagues are my friends: The role of Facebook contacts in employee identification. Management Communication Quarterly, 33(3), 307–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318919837944
5.
BatenburgA.BartelsJ. (2017). Keeping up online appearances: How self-disclosure on Facebook affects perceived respect and likability in the professional context. Computers in Human Behavior, 74(9), 265–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.033
6.
BronsteinJ. (2014). Creating possible selves: Information disclosure behaviour on social networks. Information Research, 19(1), 1–14.
7.
BrownT. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (1st ed.). The Guilford Press.
8.
BuhrmesterM.KwangT.GoslingS. D. (2011). Amazon’s Mechanical Turk: A new source of inexpensive, yet high-quality, data?Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610393980
9.
CarrC. T.HayesR. A. (2015). Social media: Defining, developing, and divining. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 23(1), 46–65. https://10.1080/15456870.2015.972282
10.
CarrC. T.StefaniakC. (2012). Sent from my iPhone: The medium and message as cues of sender professionalism in mobile telephony. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 40(4), 403–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2012.712707
11.
CarrC. T.VitakJ.McLaughlinC. (2013). Strength of social cues in online impression formation: Expanding SIDE research. Communication Research, 40(2), 261–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650211430687
12.
ChatmanJ. A. (1991). Matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in public accounting firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 459–484. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393204
13.
ChristofidesE.MuiseA.DesmaraisS. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes?CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(3), 341–345. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2008.0226
14.
CialdiniR. (1993). Influence–The psychology of persuasion. Quill William Morrow.
15.
DavisC. W.MyersK. K. (2012). Communication and member disengagement in planned organizational exit. Western Journal of Communication, 76(2), 194–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2011.651250
16.
DuffyB. E.PruchniewskaU.ScolereL. (2017). Platform-specific self-branding: Imagined affordances of the social media ecology. Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Social Media & Society, Toronto, ON.
17.
DumasT. L.Sanchez-BurksJ. (2015). The professional, the personal, and the ideal worker: Pressures and objectives shaping the boundary between life domains. The Academy of Management Annals, 9(1), 803–843. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2015.1028810
18.
EllisonN. B.SteinfieldC.LampeC. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
19.
FieselerC.MeckelM.RanziniG. (2015). Professional personae - How organizational identification shapes online identity in the workplace. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(2), 153–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12103
20.
GibbsJ. L.EllisonN. B.LaiC.-H. (2011). First comes love, then comes Google: An investigation of uncertainty reduction strategies and self-disclosure in online dating. Communication Research, 38(1), 70–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650210377091
21.
GibbsJ. L.RozaidiN. A.EisenbergJ. (2013). Overcoming the “ideology of openness”: Probing the affordances of social media for organizational knowledge sharing. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), 102–120. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12034
22.
GiddensA. (1984). The constitution of society. University of California Press.
23.
GoffmanE. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday.
24.
GonzalezE. S.LeidnerD. E.RiemenschneiderC.KochH. (2013), The impact of internal social media usage on organizational socialization and commitment. Proceedings of the 34th International Conference on Information Systems (pp. 1–8).
25.
GossettL. M.KilkerJ. (2006). My job sucks: Examining counterinstitutional web sites as locations for organizational member voice, dissent, and resistance. Management Communication Quarterly, 20, 63–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318906291729
26.
HayesR. A.SmockA.CarrC. T. (2015). Face[book] management: Self-presentation of political views on social media. Communication Studies, 66(5), 549–568. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2015.1018447
27.
HoganB. (2010). The presentation of self in the age of social media: Distinguishing performances and exhibitions online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(6), 377–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/0270467610385893
28.
HuL.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
29.
IvensS.SchaarschmidtM. (2015). Does reputable employee behavior in social networks affect customers’ trust and word of mouth? An experimental study. Proceedings of the 23rd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS).
30.
Jenkins-GuarnieriM. A.WrightS. L.JohnsonB. (2013). Development and validation of a social media use integration scale. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2(1), 38–50.
31.
JohnsonB. K.RanziniG. (2018). Click here to look clever: Self-presentation via selective sharing of music and film on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 82, 148–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.008
32.
JonesC.VolpeE. H. (2011). Organizational identification: Extending our understanding of social identities through social networks. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(3), 413–434. http://doi.org/10.1002/job.694
33.
KlineR. B. (2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford publications.
34.
KuhnT.NelsonN. (2002). Reengineering identity: A case study of multiplicity and duality in organizational identification. Management Communication Quarterly, 16(1), 5–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318902161001
35.
LampeC. A. C.EllisonN.SteinfieldC. (2007). A familiar face(book): Profile elements as signals in an online social network. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems.
36.
LaneB. L.PiercyC. W.CarrC. T. (2016). Making it Facebook official: The warranting value of online relationship status disclosures on relational characteristics. Computers in Human Behavior, 56, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.11.016
37.
LeeS. K.KramerM. W.GuoY. (2019). Social media affordances in entry-level employees’ socialization: Employee agency in the management of their professional impressions and vulnerability during early stages of socialization. New Technology, Work and Employment, 34(3), 244–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12147
38.
LeeI. A.PreacherK. J. (2013). Calculation for the test of the difference between two dependent correlations with one variable in common [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://quantpsy.org.
39.
MaelF.AshforthB. E. (1992). Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(2), 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030130202
40.
Melián-GonzálezS.Bulchand-GidumalJ. (2016). Worker word of mouth on the internet: Influence on human resource image, job seekers and employees. International Journal of Manpower, 37(4), 709–723. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-09-2014-0188
41.
Ollier-MalaterreA.RothbardN. P.BergJ. M. (2013). When worlds collide in cyberspace: How boundary work in online social networks impacts professional relationships. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 645–669. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2011.0235
42.
PiercyC. W.CarrC. T. (2020). Employer reviews may say as much about the employee as they do the employer: Online disclosures, organizational attachments, and unethical behavior. Journal of Applied Communication Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2020.1812692
43.
RainsS. A.BrunnerS. R. (2015). What can we learn about social network sites by studying Facebook? A call and recommendations for research on social network sites. New Media & Society, 17(1), 114–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814546481
RobertsonB. W.KeeK. F. (2017). Social media at work: The roles of job satisfaction, employment status, and Facebook use with co-workers. Computers in Human Behavior, 70, 191–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.080
46.
RosseelY. (2012). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v048.i02
47.
RusbultC. E.FarrellD. (1983). A longitudinal test of the investment model: The impact on job satisfaction, job commitment, and turnover of variations in rewards, costs, alternatives, and investments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68(3), 429–438. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.68.3.429
48.
ScottC. R.CormanS. R.CheneyG. (1998). Development of a structurational model of identification in the organization. Communication Theory, 8(3), 298–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.1998.tb00223.x
49.
ScottC.MyersK. K. (2010). Toward an integrative theoretical perspective on organizational membership negotiations: Socialization, assimilation, and the duality of structure. Communication Theory, 20(1), 79–105. https://doi.org10.1111/j.1468-2885.2009.01355.x
50.
ScottC. R.StephensK. K. (2009). It depends on who you’re talking to. . .: Predictors and outcomes of situated measures of organizational identification. Western Journal of Communication, 73(4), 370–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570310903279075
ShossM. K.MaurerA. H.RupprechtE. A. (2013). “My boss is probably the devil!” Exploring employees’ online vents. In AshkanasyN. M.ZerbeW. J.HärtelC. E. J. (Eds.), Individual sources, dynamics, and expressions of emotion (pp. 249–277). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
SiasP. M.DuncanK. L. (2020). Not just for customers anymore: Organization Facebook, employee social capital, and organizational identification. International Journal of Business Communication. 57(4). 431–
451. http://doi.org/10.1177/2329488418765930
55.
SibonaC. (2014). Unfriending on Facebook: Context collapse and unfriending behaviors. Paper presented at the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’14), Waikoloa, HI.
56.
SmidtsA.PruynA. T. H.Van RielC. B. (2001). The impact of employee communication and perceived external prestige on organizational identification. Academy of Management Journal, 44(5), 1051–1062. https://doi.org/10.5465/3069448
SteersR. M. (1977). Antecedents and outcomes of organizational commitment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 22(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/2391745
59.
StephensK. K.DaileyS. L. (2012). Situated organizational identification in newcomers: Impacts of preentry organizational exposure. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(3), 404–422. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318912440179
60.
SteinfieldC.EllisonN. B.LampeC. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 434–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.07.002
61.
TabachnikB. G.FidellS. L. (2019). Using multivariate statistics (7th ed.). Pearson Education.
62.
van ProoijenA. M.RanziniG.BartelsJ. (2018). Exposing one’s identity: Social judgments of colleagues’ traits can influence employees’ Facebook boundary management. Computers in Human Behavior, 78, 215–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.002
63.
van ZoonenW.BanghartS. (2018). Talking engagement into being: A three-wave panel study linking boundary management preferences, work communication on social media, and employee engagement. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 23(5), 278–293. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmy014
64.
van ZoonenW.BartelsJ.van ProoijenA.-M.SchoutenA. P. (2018). Explaining online ambassadorship behaviors on Facebook and LinkedIn. Computers in Human Behavior, 87, 354–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.05.031
65.
van ZoonenW.VerhoevenJ. W.VliegenthartR. (2016). How employees use Twitter to talk about work: A typology of work-related tweets. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 329–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.021
66.
VitakJ.BlasiolaS.PatilS.LittE. (2015). Balancing audience and privacy tensions on social network sites: Strategies of highly engaged users. International Journal of Communication, 9, 1485–1504.
67.
WaldenJ. A.Kingsley-WestermanC. Y. (2018). Strengthening the tie: Creating exchange relationships that encourage employee advocacy as an organizational citizenship behavior. Management Communication Quarterly, 32(4), 593–611. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318918783612
68.
WaltherJ. B.ParksM. R. (2002). Cues filtered out, cues filtered in: Computer-mediated communication and relationships. In KnappM. L.DalyJ. A. (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (3rd ed., pp. 529–563). Sage.
69.
WangL.PrattM. G. (2008). An identity-based view of emotional ambivalence and its management in organizations. In AshkanasyN. M.CooperC. L. (Eds.), Research companions to emotion in organizations (pp. 589–604). Edward Elgar.
70.
WeickK. E.SutcliffeK. M.ObstfeldD. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science, 16(4), 409-421. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0133
71.
WhittyM.DoodsonJ.CreeseS.HodgesD. (2014). Image choice to represent the self in different online environments. In MeiselwitzG. (Ed.), Social Computing and Social Media (pp. 528–537). Springer.
72.
WithersM. C.CorleyK. G.HillmanA. J. (2012). Stay or leave: Director identities and voluntary exit from the board during organizational crisis. Organization Science, 23(3), 835–850. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.0660
73.
ZideJ.ElmanB.Shahani-DenningC. (2014). LinkedIn and recruitment: How profiles differ across occupations. Employee Relations, 36(5), 583–604. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-07-2013–0086
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
