The The Impact of Work-Related Social Media Usage on Employee Engagement and Job Performance Evidence from Chinese Employees in Mainland China
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Abstract
The expansion of social media platforms not only provides professionals with valuable networking opportunities but also influences employees' psychological well-being and organizational outcomes. This study was grounded in the uses and gratification theory to investigate the effects of employees' usage of work-related social media on employee engagement and job performance. Specifically, job engagement, organizational engagement, innovative job performance, and routine performance were examined to explore nuanced outcomes. Data was collected from 381 Chinese employees in mainland China using a hybrid sampling design of snowball sampling method and convenience sampling method. The findings of the PLS-SEM analysis revealed that the proposed model has moderate explaining power on innovative job performance (R2 = .57) and demonstrates nearly moderate levels of organizational engagement (R2 = .41) and routine job performance (R2 = .39). Additionally, work-related social media usage was found to be a stronger predictor of organizational engagement (β = .64, p < .00; f2 = .70) compared to job engagement (β = .50, p < .00; f2 = .33). Furthermore, the findings suggest that different types of engagement have varying impacts on different dimensions of job performance. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the application of the uses and gratification theory from the employees' perspective. The results also offer practical insights for organizations and managers, emphasizing the importance of fostering appropriate social media use, addressing different dimensions of employee engagement, and creating a supportive work environment that promotes both innovative and routine job performance.
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