Social Media Monitoring by Workplace Contacts and Employee Online Self-Disclosure: Implications for Workplace Outcomes

Abstract

This study investigates how Social Media Monitoring by Workplace Contacts (SMMWC) shapes employees’ online disclosure and professional outcomes, drawing on Communication Privacy Management theory. We surveyed 302 working professionals in Pakistan to assess the impact of SMMWC on dimensions of online self-disclosure including breadth, depth, authenticity, and positive valence, and, in turn, impacts outcomes including job satisfaction, social capital and self-concept clarity. Results show that SMMWC does not uniformly restrict disclosure; instead, it encourages greater breadth, depth, and authenticity, while reducing positive valence. Mediation analyses reveal that authenticity strengthens both social capital and self-concept clarity, whereas positive valence undermines self-concept clarity. These findings challenge assumptions that monitoring primarily suppresses disclosure and extend communication privacy management theory by showing that employees strategically recalibrate boundaries to balance authenticity and impression management. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for understanding online self-presentation in digital environments.