The influence of career stages on work-related social media behavior of employees
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication Master’s program Communication Science
Vihra Toneva, 11128844 Supervisor: Dr. Joost Verhoeven 02.02.2017
Abstract
Nowadays the importance of employees in the organizational dialogue is growing because they possess the power to influence public opinion through interacting with
stakeholders on social media. One of the factors that might influence their work-related social media behavior is employees’ career progression. This study set to examine the relationship between the career stages employees undergo and the social media behavior they exert. Contrary to the popular understanding that junior employees are more active on social media we found that this is not case. Our investigation showed that newcomers do not engage in participating and producing behavior and one of the explanations for that was their lack of organizational ambassadorship need. We also found that employees in exploration stage experience lower level of social information need compared to employees in other stages. The practical implications form this study suggest that organizations need to find a way to
encourage a constructive work-related social media behavior in order to enhance their reputation online.
Introduction
The ubiquity of social media presents organizations with various opportunities and challenges when it comes to the facilitation of a two-way dialogue. Social media empowers all stakeholders to become a part of the online conversation and to contribute to the issues organizations face. Some of the most influential participants in this dialogue are the employees. They can help companies attain significant leverage or harm their reputation (Helm, 2011). Through the online content creation employees have the power to contribute or hinder the brand understanding (Gotsi & Wilson, 2001). Employees act as online
organizational ambassadors because they are seen as knowledgeable insiders who share more genuine information than the official channels (Dreher, 2014). Their social media usage can be related to the need theory as an attempt to gratify needs like affiliation, information, popularity (Chen, 2012) which act as motivations to engage in social media activities.
Employees’ communication behavior differs significantly during their career
progression (Brekelmans, Holvast & Van Tartwijk, 1992) and that is one of the main reasons for career stages theory development. The motivations of the employees for online behaviors can be affected by the career stages they go through (Super, 1980). The lack of understanding how employees behave on social media during their career development obstructs the efforts of the organizations to empower them as corporate ambassadors or to prevent social media blunders that may harm the organizational reputation (Cravens & Oliver, 2006). Given the rapid technological advancements and the key role employees play in influencing the perceptions about their organization (Helm, 2011), there is a need to gauge more thoroughly the relationship between career stages and work-related social media use.
The influence of the career stages has been investigated in the context of human resources management (Greenhaus, Callanan & Godshalk, 2009) but until now there has been no attention to its impact on social media use behaviors. Each stage is characterized by unique
tasks and challenges that impact the employees (Greenhaus et al., 2009), for example their job satisfaction (Gould & Hawkins, 1978) or professional relationships management (Low, Bordia & Bordia, 2016). One of the behaviors that can be affected is the way employees engage with work-related content. Depending on the employees’ motivations during the different stages their behavior could potentially lead to negative or positive consequences for the organization’s reputation (Helm, 2011). We know that the longer the employees have been part of the company, the more they will exhibit job search behavior, physical health
complaints, and counterproductive behavior (Duffy, Ganster & Shaw, 1998). Furthermore, there is a “honeymoon effect” in which the new employees are more committed and satisfied with their job during the initial employment period (Cropanzano, James & Konovsky, 1993. These attitudes create the need for self-expression and social media can be an outlet to satisfy that need (Vitak, Crouse & LaRose, 2011).
By arguing that during the different career stages employees have certain
psychological needs we need to understand how they will act upon them through social media use (Whiting & Williams, 2013). There are three distinct types of online behaviors in general - consuming, participating, and producing online content (Shao, 2009) which are
characterized by the increasing level of engagement with the online content. In the context of the transitions employees undergo during their career stages we can argue that they are motivated by different factors to exhibit variance in their conduct and consequently to engage more or less in work-related social media use.
Most of the studies so far have focused on the drivers of the regular user of social media (Bolton et al., 2013; Sundar & Limperos, 2013). For instance, some studies suggest that the motivation for usage of social media sites is enjoyment, number of peers, and perceived usefulness (Lin & Lu, 2011). Others point to the social media use as a source for information and news (Robertson, Vatrapu, & Medina, 2010). However, as the power of the
employees to contribute or undermine the organizational goals is growing (Helm, 2011), there has been interest in the stimuli for their work-related social media behavior (van Zoonen, van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2014). We can examine these incentives as drivers during the career stages of employee exploration, establishment, maintenance and disengagement and argue that their interaction can predict the way employees behave on the social media.
In sum, the technological advancements necessitate a thorough investigation about the antecedents of work-related social media use. We know that career stages affect employees’ behavior motivations (Lam, Ng & Feldman, 2012; Post, Schneer & Reitman, 2013) but there is a literature gap about how the employment progression and the needs associated with the different career stages influence employees’ behavior on social media. Additionally, our knowledge about the motivations for engaging in a certain social media behavior is scarce and needs more in-depth attention. This is from growing importance because external stakeholders perceive employees as trustworthy sources of corporate information online (van Zoonen, Verhoeven & Elving, 2014) and organizations need to take action in order to turn employees’ work-related social media content into a valuable asset and not let it become a liability. Additionally, knowing what type of needs can be satisfied through work-related social media behaviour might improve employees’ organizational engagement and job performance.
Accordingly, we seek to explore how the interaction between the motivations and career stages impacts the work-related online conduct of the employees. Furthermore, this study attempts to create a career stages framework that is suitable for the investigation of outcomes connected to employees’ behavior. Consequently, the formulation of the research question is as follows:
RQ: To what extent do career stages impact employees’ social media behavior through shifting motivations for work-related social media use?
Theoretical background Career stages
Some of the most influential models in the career stages theory development are the protean (Hall & Moss, 1999) and the boundaryless career (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). They emphasize the individual control over employability (Hall, 2004), as well as the idea that employees will pursue various professional opportunities by crossing organizational and employment boundaries (Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2009). Employees will experience different chapters during their employment in a search for self-actualization (Ginn, 1998). These chapters are called career stages. They are conceptualized as phases through the individual’s employment and are characterized by specific motivations and challenges (Super, 1957; Super, 1980). Employees in the same career stages have similar needs that can be satisfied through comparable actions (Bedeian, Pizzolatto, Long, & Griffeth, 1991). Career stages impact organizational commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1993; Gao‐ Urhahn, Biemann & Jaros, 2016; Morrow & McElroy, 1987), work productivity (Johnson & Lafrance, 2016), job satisfaction (Mount, 1984; Veiga, 1983), turnover intentions (Griffin, Hogan & Lambert, 2013), work ethic (Pogson, Cober, Doverspike & Rogers, 2003) and performance (Stumpf & Rabinowitz, 1981).
Each career stage is characterized by diverse attitudes, behaviors and concerns (Greenhaus et al., 2009; Hess, Jepsen & Dries, 2012; Morrow et al., 1987; Savickas, 1997; Super, 1980). The theories differentiate between the stages based on employee’s age, organizational tenure, professional, and positional tenure (Morrow et al., 1987).
First, the age of the employee is the most common criterion for outlining career stages (Greenhaus et al., 2009; Levinson, 1978; Rabinowitz & Hall, 1981; Raelin, 1985; Slocum & Cron, 1985; Super, 1980). An employee goes first through a stage of identifying professional interests and capabilities in his 20’s, finding a suitable workplace and establishing himself in
his 30’s, then developing his or her skills and progressing in the hierarchy until he turns 50 and finally leaving the workplace to retire after the age of 60 (Hall & Nougaim, 1968; Morrow et al., 1987; Super, 1980).
Second, there is a career stage differentiation based on the time employees spend in their organization (Gould et al., 1978). Career stages based on organizational tenure are more precise because tenure is an indicator for organizational experiences, while age is an index of life experiences (Cohen, 1993). The process of career development progresses in maxi-cycle and mini-cycles (Anderson & Vandehey, 2011). Maxi-cycles relate to the life stages
associated with age, and mini-cycles allow reprocessing through stages during transitions which corresponds to the idea of a non-linear and boundaryless career.
Third, career stages can be based on occupational tenure (the time spent on the current job position) or professional tenure (the time spent in the current professional field). The length of time in the profession/occupation has received some empirical support and allows career stages to begin at various time periods for employees of the same age. (Mount, 1984). Additionally, employees reference their career progression from the time they entered their profession rather than according to their tenure in the organization (Stumpf et al., 1981). Occupational tenure has also been used to measure career transitions an employee undergoes from one position to another within an employing organization (Katz & Kahn, 1978).
Super’s (1980) career stages theory lends itself as the most flexible and it could be adopted to measure career stages according to age, organizational, professional and
occupational tenure. It consists of four stages that can exist either through an employee’s life or as a reoccurring cycle. The first stage is exploration: in this stage, employees experience a high need for information and lower levels of altruism compared to the other stages (Sinha & Srivastava, 2014). There is a need for crystallization of their self-concepts and requirement for guidance in order to orient themselves and choose the right professional track (Low et al.,
2016). In the establishment stage employees are concerned with becoming more social and earning the respect of their peers (Sinha et al., 2014). Additionally, they strive to prove themselves and gain professional knowledge (Low et al., 2016). The maintenance stage is characterized with commitment to actions concerning others and contributions to the
organizational welfare (Sinha et al., 2014). Employees seek new challenges, aim to perform on a superior level and advise the newcomers (Oplatka, 2012). In the disengagement stage employees are shifting their commitment away from their current organizations, looking for the next big step and tend to slow down their work pace by handling less workload (Low et al., 2016). Each stage entails different roles and self-concepts for the employees, which in turn impact their preferences for stage-relevant contributions and incentives (Low et al., 2016).
Work-related Social Media Behavior
Individuals behave differently on social media to satisfy their needs. In the context of our study work-related social media behavior describes employees’ interaction with online content that is related to their professional responsibilities, organization or the industry they are working in. The early categorizations of social media behavior differentiate between lurkers (individuals who are passive online and only consume the readily available information without posting) and posters (active members who communicate their experiences to the others; Schlosser, 2005). The majority of users consumes rather than contributes to social media and most of the content is created by the minority of users (Jones, Ravid & Rafaeli, 2004). The technological advancements of the social media and the
introduction of features like “liking” or including content in users’ “favorites” presents another distinctive category of activities that allows users to engage but not in an entirely active way, namely participating (Shao, 2009). We can distinguish between three different categories of work-related social media behavior - consuming, participating, and producing
(Shao, 2009). Although these behaviors are separated in the theory they are interdependent in reality and can be executed simultaneously or sequentially (Shao, 2009). The categories can be explored through the prism of online engagement with work, organization and profession content (Johnston, 2015).
Consuming is defined as reading, looking or listening to social media content and it represents the activities individuals perform most often online (Heinonen, 2011). Users consume content to satisfy their information, entertainment, and mood management needs (Shao, 2009). Participating signifies interacting with the content as well as with other users (Shao, 2009). Rating or liking the content, saving to favorites, sharing, retweeting, and posting comments signifies participation. Sending instant messages or reply to other users in chat rooms and message boards denotes users’ interaction. Producing is the rarest behavior and it describes individuals who produce and publish their own content for the needs of the others (Shao, 2009). This includes writing blog posts, publishing video content, creating authors content for social media pages and profiles.
Motivations for Work-related Social Media Behavior
Different work-related social media behaviors are based on various needs that employees attempt to satisfy through social media (Heinonen, 2011). We can differentiate between four antecedents - information needs, relationship management, organizational ambassadorship and personal branding (van Zoonen et al., 2014).
First, information needs includes work-related, profession-related and social information. Social media use is seen as a convenient source of information that helps employees perform better in their job (Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001). The positive effect is reinforced by the convenience of social media that allows seeking and receiving support easily from colleagues or professionals (Charoensukmongkol, 2014). Second, relationship management is facilitated through social media because it enables new
ways of keeping in touch and building relationships (van Zoonen et al., 2014). Employees engage by participating in an online work community where they can network with colleagues (Landers & Callan, 2014). Third, social media provides employees with a platform to express their opinion about their organization and engage in organizational ambassadorship.
Employees who feel pride of their organization are willing to convey that online by posting positive messages and thus to work towards a favorable reputation of their company (Helm, 2011). Fourth, employees may also be guided by individual reasons like personal branding. From the social capital theory we know that one of the reasons for individuals to engage in social media behavior is the opportunity to exhibit knowledge and that could be especially true when it comes to work-related content (Sun & Shang, 2014).
The exploration stage is characterized by the uncertainties surrounding profession choices (Super, 1980) and newcomers have the need to select the right job opportunity or learn the basics of their profession (Low et al., 2016). Employees examine the opportunities in a certain professional field, the job responsibilities of their desired position and the behavior of potential colleagues, respectively they look for profession-related, work-related and social information (van Zoonen et al., 2014). One of the most convenient ways to gather insight is by using social media for these answers (Landers et al. 2014). Employees predominantly rely on pre-existing online information when it comes to work-related knowledge sharing (van Zoonen, Verhoeven & Vliegenthart, 2016). The most logical way to satisfy the need for information is to search on social media and read up on the profession field individuals are interested in (Shao, 2009), thus the employees in exploration stage will engage in consuming social media behavior. Besides, consuming is expected and even encouraged by more
experienced members of the community because it allows newcomers to educate themselves before contributing meaningful content (Tagarelli & Interdonato, 2014). Hence:
H1: Employees in the exploration career stage will be more likely to display consuming work-related social media behavior than employees in the other career stages.
H1a: Employees in the exploration stage will predominantly display consuming work-related social media behavior mediated by their need for information.
The organization’s entry marks a stage when employees want to establish themselves and to perform at superior level (Low et al., 2016). During this period they socialize and participate in knowledge sharing (Super, 1980). Employees in establishment stage can try to communicate actively with their colleagues and ask for advice. Social media lends itself as a socializing tool that helps in creating a network of their peers related to their job or profession (Landers et al. 2014). It is recognized as a crowdsourcing instrument because it lets
employees ask peers online how to unravel a problem they could not otherwise resolve (Landers et al., 2014). Employees’ social media connections influence positively the perceptions of organizational support and help the employees feel more included and reassured (Schmidt, Lelchook & Martin, 2016). Social connections enhancement can be achieved through participating behavior (Shao, 2009). After gaining some initial experience, employees are willing to contribute work-related social media content and some less active consumers will become more active (Hanna, Rohm & Crittenden, 2011). That can be explained with the acquisition of knowledge and the aspiration to create a strong and
supportive network of colleagues and business partners (Sinha et al., 2014). In this sense we can expect experienced employees to start forwarding work-related content and to message their co-workers seeking advice or sharing knowledge.
H2: Employees in the establishment career stage will be more likely to display participating work-related social media behavior compared to employees in the other career stages.
H2a: Employees in the establishment stage will predominantly display participating work-related social media behavior mediated by their need for relationship management.
Finally, the maintenance stage signifies employees’ desire to preserve the professional level they have already reached and to branch out in their efforts to help junior employees and the organization itself (Oplatka, 2012). Employees in maintenance stage display higher levels of altruism than employees in the other career stages and based on their comprehensive experience can act as knowledgeable advisors and trusted ambassadors (Sinha et al., 2014). Social media can be a platform to perform these activities (Ellison, 2007). Employees can strengthen their position as experts by engaging in personal branding and displaying
professional knowledge in terms of work experiences (Labrecque, Markos & Milne, 2011). They can act from altruistic perspective and share positive organizational information to create an enhanced reputation for their company (Helm, 2011). Besides, engaging with their organization online, especially if the organization has high reputation, can lead to
enhancement of the employee self-concept by emphasizing their connection (Hollenbeck & Kaikati, 2012). They will be inclined to produce work-related content because they want to fulfill their need for self‐ expression and self‐ actualization (Shao, 2009). We can speculate that they will be more invested and will be willing to go the extra mile by acting as
organizational ambassadors and actively publishing information about their company. H3: Employees in the maintenance career stage will be more likely to display producing work-related social media behavior compared to employees in other stages.
H3a: Employees in the maintenance stage will predominantly display producing work-related social media behavior mediated by their need for organizational ambassadorship and personal branding.
Figure 1. Conceptual model
Methods Design and Procedure
The research design for this study was cross-sectional survey and the modality is self-completion online questionnaire. The survey was distributed through various channels – email, social media (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) and forum posts. All participants needed to be of full legal age, thus over 18 years old and currently working in an organization or looking for a potential new workplace. There were no limitations in the nationalities or types of organizations and sectors that were allowed to participate, given that the respondents speak English. The respondents did not receive any rewards for the participation.
Sampling
For this study we used convenience sampling. Out of 235 responses, 145 were valid. The reason for the discrepancy between the number of the respondents who started the survey and who finished it was two-fold. First, 36 of the respondents answered that they do not use social media for work-related purposes and were directed to the end of the survey without
answering the questions related to types of work-related social media use and the motivations for that. Second, the questionnaire included more than 50 items and we can speculate that some of the respondents dropped out due to exhaustion. We excluded outliers – two for the types of work-related social media behavior and five for the motivations - because they were extreme cases who were skewing the data and were changing the distribution, so finally 138 responses were included in the analysis. The average age of the respondents was 29.79 years (SD = 6.35), 29.7% of the participants were male and 70.3% were female. The work tenure was measured only for the participants who were already employed. The average professional tenure was six years and five months (N = 117, M = 77.31, SD = 60.18), the organizational tenure - 3 years and 2 months (N = 117, M = 38.17, SD = 34.48) and the positional tenure - 1 year and 2 months (N = 116, M = 25.73, SD = 31.20). The respondents were predominantly from Europe.
Country Number of participants
Bulgaria 76
The Netherlands 27
United Kingdom 10
Germany 7
Austria 6
United States of America 4
Other 8
Table 1. Participants’ nationalities
The employment situation of the majority of the respondents was intermediate level/specialist/expert - 34.5%, followed by middle management - 20.9%, unemployed -
17.6%, entry level/junior specialist - 14.9% and finally intern, senior management and owner/executive management/CEO with 4.1% each.
Measures Career stages
There has been a lot of inconsistency between the different measures and some studies criticize the idea of measuring the career stage of the individual only through objective
measures (Bedeian et al., 1991; Cooke, 1994). Thus, we used a mix of objective and
subjective measures to comprehensively gather information about the career stages. When it comes to objective measures we asked the participants to indicate their age in years, their organizational tenure (the time they have been working for their current organization) in years and months, their position tenure (the time they have been on the same position) in years and months and their professional tenure (the time they have been part of the professional field they are employed) in years and months. This covers the three most commonly used measures (Morrow et al., 1987) and can be used as a reference to establishing a more precise career stages framework. Subjective measurement was conducted by asking the respondents to agree or disagree with statements related to the different stages needs. We employed a short form of the Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) which has been tested and has shown adequate validity and reliability (Perrone, Gordon, Fitch & Civiletto, 2003). It measured the four career stages but the last stage was conceptualized as departure from the workforce due to
retirement, so we adapted it to reflect employer change intention. For this purpose we used a scale developed by Landau and Hammer (1986) which includes three items, for example “I am actively looking for a job outside my company”. The whole career stages scale had 12 items. Each of the four stages was measured by three statements about career concerns typical for the corresponding stage (see Appendix for questionnaire). The answers ranged on a five-point Likert scale from “No concern” (1) to “Great concern” (5). Four new variables were
computed and they were representing exploration (α = 0.89, M = 4.66, SD = 1.78),
establishment (α = 0.78, M = 4.70, SD = 1.53), maintenance (α = 0.78, M = 4.70, SD = 1.63) and disengagement (α = 0.89, M = 3.01, SD = 1.73). Additionally, we used one item
subjective self-measurement which asked “Choose the answer that best characterizes your current career situation” and gives four options describing the most salient characteristics of the four career stages. 22.6% of the respondents selected exploration stage, 15.3% -
establishment, 26% - maintenance, and 9.8% - disengagement. Work-related social media behavior
This measure evaluates the type of work-related social media behavior (consuming, participating, producing), the preferred channel and the frequency of use. The type of work-related social media behavior is evaluated based on a questionnaire with seven-point Likert scales answers from “Strongly agree” (1) to “Strongly disagree” (7) used by van Zoonen et al. (2014). They measured consuming with two items, for example “I use social media to look or listen to work-related content”. Producing is measured with five items, for example “I write messages on social media that are about my work”. For the purpose of this study the third concept – participating online behavior, was measured by constructing a scale with four items based on the findings of Shao (2009). The items are: “I like work-related content online”, “I share work-related content online”, “I save work-related content to my favorites” and “I respond to work-related content by leaving online comments”. Three outcome variables were computed – consuming (α = 0.82, M = 5.34, SD = 1.44), participating (α = 0.73, M = 4.43, SD = 1.27), producing (α = 0.86, M = 4.13, SD = 1.45). The second scale measures the preferred channels for sharing work-related content and the items include the top ten most visited social media sites for 2016 based on market share of visits (“Statista”, 2016). The third scale probes the frequency of work-related social media behavior and responses vary on a five-point Likert scales answers from “Never” (1) to “Every day” (5). The third scale taps the
general frequency of work-related social media behavior and it is measured with a five-point Likert scale with answers varying form “Never” (1) to “Every day” (5).
Motivations for work-related social media use
We adapt the scale used by van Zoonen et al. (2014) which assesses four motivations for work-related social media use - information needs, relationship management,
organizational ambassadorship and personal branding. The information need aspect is divided in three different clusters (work-related information, profession-related information and social information) and it is measured with 10 items, for example "I want to stay up-to-date with developments within my organization". The relationship management aspect is measured with nine items, for example “I want to reinforce relationships with professional acquaintances”. The organizational ambassadorship aspect is evaluated with nine items, for example “I tell others about my organization's accomplishments”. Finally, personal branding is assessed with six items, for example “I have a need to influence how others perceive me”. All answers vary on a seven-point Likert scales from “Strongly agree” (1) to “Strongly disagree” (7). Six outcome variables were computed - work-related information (α = 0.73, M = 5.48, SD = 0.99), profession-related information (α = 0.88, M = 5.89, SD = 0.91), social information (α = 0.81, M = 5.02, SD = 1.20), relationship management (α = 0.88, M = 5.10, SD = 0.96),
organizational ambassadorship (α = 0.93, M = 4.64, SD = 1.29), personal branding (α = 0.90, M = 4.84, SD = 1.26).
Results
Career stages and motivations for work related social media use
In order to test our hypotheses we will first explore whether career stages differ in terms of motivations. Next, we will examine the relationship between career stages and
work-related social media behaviors. Finally, we will gauge to what extent the motivations explain the differences in the work-related social media behaviors.
To test the relationships between career stage and motivations for work-related social media use, we used the different measures for career stages. We started by conducting a multiple regression analysis with independent variable subjective measurement of career stages. Gender and managerial position were included as dichotomous control variables. First, we tested whether career stages influence the need for work-related information. Although the model was a good fit in predicting motivations for work-related information (F (6, 130) = 3.83, p = .001), the only factor that influenced the outcome variable was gender, b* = .34, p < .001. Second, we tested how career stages impact the need for profession-related information. Again the model was a good fit (F (6, 130) = 2.18, p = .049) but the only significant
relationship came from the influence of gender, b* = .22, p = .010. Third, we tested the impact of career stages on social information motivations. The model was a good fit (F (6, 130) = 5.14, p < .001) and in addition of the influence of gender (b* = .35, p < .001) we found that exploration stage significantly predicted the need for social information, b* = -.22, t (130) = -2.02, p = .045. The more employees feel like they are in the exploration stage, the less they look for social information and that is contrary to our expectation that employees in
exploration stage will have high information needs. Fourth, the model gauging the impact of career stages on relationship management was a good fit (F (6, 130) = 2.75, p = .015) but only gender had influence on the outcome, b* = .30, p = .001. Fifth, the model gauging how
organizational ambassadorship is impacted by career stages has a good fit (F (6, 130) = 4.82, p < .001) and we see that exploration stage (b* = -.20, t (130) = -2.54, p = .012) and the control variables gender (b* = .21, p = .010) and managerial position (b* = .23, p = .010) have a significant influence. Thus, the more people feel they are in the exploration stage the less they display organizational ambassadorship motivations. Finally, career stages were not a
good predictor for the personal branding motivation as the model was not significant (F (6, 130) = 1.36, p = .234).
Career stages and work-related social media behavior
Before proceeding to test whether motivations mediate the relationship between career stages and work-related social media behavior, we want to see if there is a relationship
between career stages and work-related social media behavior. First, we test how career stages measured by concerns influence the consuming behavior. The model does not present a good fit for our data (F (4, 133) = .4, p = .805) as it is insignificant, hence career stages do not predict consuming behavior. Second, we test influence of career stages on participating behavior. The model is significant (F (4, 133) = 3.2, p = .015) and career stages explain a small percent of the variability in the participating behavior (𝑅2= .088). There is a
relationship only between exploration stage and participating behavior and it is a negative one (b* = -.32, t (133) = -2.93, p = .004). This means that the more employees share concerns typical for the exploration stage, the less they engage in a participating behavior. Third, we gauge the impact of career stages on producing behavior. The model is successful in predicting career stages (F (4, 133) = 5.87, p < .001) although career stages explain a small percent of the variability in the producing behavior (𝑅2= .150). There is a relationship between exploration stage and producing behavior and it is a negative one (b* = -.41, t (133) = -3.93, p < .001). Thus, the more employees share concerns typical for the exploration stage, the less they produce work-related social media content.
Career stages and work-related social media use through motivations
From the previous analyses we found that the only career stage that affects work-related social media behavior is exploration. We also know that exploration negatively affects organizational ambassadorship and the need for social information. We can speculate that these two motivations are possible mediators and explore the relationship between exploration
and producing and participating behavior. Therefore, in this section of the results, we will test whether the need for social information and the organizational ambassadorship motivation mediate the relationships between exploration stage and work-related social media behavior, participation and production respectively.
To test whether the motivations for social media use mediate the relationship between career stages and social media behavior we will use Hayes’ PROCESS. First, we examine the relationship between exploration stage and participating behavior mediated by organizational ambassadorship motivation. The total effect of exploration on participating is significant (p = .04) and the direct effect of exploration on participating behavior when organizational
ambassadorship motivation is included as predictor is significant (p = .033). The confidence intervals of the indirect effect of exploration stage on participating do not include zero (95% BCa CI [-.133, -.016] which means that the relationship is partially mediated by the
organizational ambassadorship motivation and it explains only part of the process. This represents a medium effect 𝜅2=.100, 95% BCa CI [.025, .183].
Second, we investigate whether the need for social-related information mediates the relationship between exploration stage and participating behavior. While the total effect of exploration on participating is significant (p = .038) and the direct effect of exploration on participating when social-related information motivation is included as predictor is significant (p = .054), the confidence intervals of the indirect effect of exploration stage on participating include zero (95% BCa CI [-.054, .02], so this means that the relationship between
exploration stage and participating is not mediated by the need for social-related information. Third, we investigate the relationship between exploration and producing with
mediator organizational ambassadorship motivation. The result is significant because the total effect of exploration on producing is significant (p < .001), the direct effect of exploration on producing when social information motivation is included as predictor is significant (p = .001)
and the confidence intervals of the indirect effect of exploration stage on producing do not include zero (95% BCa CI [-.147, -.028]. This means that being in exploration stage
influences your producing behavior through organizational ambassadorship motivation. This represents a medium effect 𝜅2=.093, 95% BCa CI [.034, .184].
Finally, we investigate the relationship between exploration stage and producing behavior mediated by the need for social-related information. While the total effect of exploration on producing is significant (p < .001) and the direct effect of exploration on producing when social-related information motivation is included as predictor is significant (p < .001), the confidence intervals of the indirect effect of exploration stage on producing include zero (95% BCa CI [-.06, .021], so this means that the relationship between
exploration stage and producing is not mediated by the need for social-related information.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to examine in what way career stages impact employees’ social media behavior through shifting their motivations for work-related social media use. Although the relationships between career stages and work-related social media behavior did not meet our expectations, the study discovered compelling findings that shed light on the way we theorize career stages and the social media behavior of employees in the exploration stage.
Although it was not a central purpose of this study, the analysis of the data revealed the need to reconsider the conceptualization and measurement of career stages. First, it is necessary to understand whether objective or subjective measures produce more reliable results. In our study we used both types of measures and we found relationships only when we used subjective measures, namely when respondents expressed their level of concern
that one of the main challenges in determining objectively the duration of the career stages is the arbitrariness of the cut-off points (Gould et al., 1978). Moreover, currently the
employment phases are cyclical and reoccurring so it is possible that each career stage has different duration during the different phases (Hess et al., 2012), thus we cannot generalize with certainty their start or end. Additionally, there is a difference between the career progression opportunities in complex business environments with established hierarchy and organizations with more flexible structures (Hall, 1996), thus some employees might experience shorter stages duration and faster career advancement. Furthermore, there are personality traits that might contribute to an employee’s quicker career progression (Converse, Pathak, DePaul-Haddock, Gotlib & Merbedone, 2012). All this suggests that subjective measures capture the career stages concept more adequately. Second, our findings show that an employee may have simultaneously overlapping concerns typical for two of the stages and when self-categorization measures are used respondents have difficulties to choose the stage they are in. Previous studies (Buchanan, 1974; Lynn, Cao & Horn, 1996) have suggested the need for future research investigating how different career stages might cover similar needs and employees can be in two phases simultaneously. This calls into question whether we should measure career stages as discreet or continuous variables. The results support the idea for a continuous transition from one stage to another in which the employees’ concerns gradually transform with their tenure at an organization. This is confirmed by the idea of career stages as intrarole transitions that occur without employees’ conscious effort or awareness because often they are pervasive and not accompanied with formal change of job position (Louis, 1980). Furthermore, an employee may stay in the same stage while still undergoing positive growth in terms of skills and professional experience (Steffy & Wolfe, 2001). Although there are some professions where the transitions through the stages are clearly marked with change in the job positions – scientists (Baruch & Hall, 2004) or teachers
(Woods & Lynn, 2014), for instance, it is safe to assume that a continuous approach will produce more valid results. Third, we found significant results only for the exploration stage and overlapping concerns for establishment and maintenance stages which raises the question whether the differentiation between establishment and maintenance stage is necessary and meaningful. We can speculate that it is hard to discern between them as they may invoke similar needs and behaviors. For example, most of the studies are unanimous in their
description of the exploration stage needs as a period when employees identify their interests, become acquainted with the environment and develop new competencies (Schein, 1978; Super, 1980). At the same time we see concurring concerns for both establishment and maintenance like building seniority (Gould et al., 1978) and stabilization of the position (Bedeian et al., 1991). Thus, maybe employees can be divided only in two stages – juniors and seniors. Most of the studies distinguish simply between employees with more or less tenure when investigating organizational roles like newcomers and mentors (Ostroff & Kozlowski, 1993) or behavioral concerns in early or late career stages (Gibson, 2003).
Overall, our findings regard the behavior of the employees in the exploration stage. First, when it comes to motivations for work-related social media use we found that the more employees share concerns typical for the exploration stage the less they experience a need for social information or organizational ambassadorship. It is surprising that people in the
exploration stage are not trying to find out more about their new or potential colleagues and clients because newcomers usually look for a guidance in their colleagues in order to integrate themselves better (Low et al., 2016). We can speculate that employees in exploration stage do not experience a need for social information because they have smaller networks within the organization. The social network development occurs with spending more time within a certain group of people (Jokisaari, 2013), thus when newcomers gain more experience they might be more interested in communicating with their colleagues. At the same time the lack
of organizational ambassadorship motivation seems logical because newcomers are usually encouraged to educate themselves before making contributions related to the organization (Tagarelli et al., 2014). A possible explanation could be their lack of motivation – junior employees experience lower levels of altruism compared to the employees in the other stages (Sinha et al., 2014). Employees in exploration stage are facing higher levels of stress due to the high levels of uncertainty (Ellis et al., 2015) so it makes sense that they would be more inwardly focused in order to assimilate the influx of new knowledge. Furthermore, employees in the exploration stage need to become acquainted with basic information like how to
execute their tasks (Low et al., 2016) so they lack the ability to act as ambassadors and knowledge about the organization is one of the key characteristics of an ambassador (Xiong, King & Piehler, 2013). Another characteristic of organizational ambassadors is their level of commitment (Xiong et al., 2013) and that depends on the extent employees feel accepted by the organization and their colleagues (Hellman & McMillin, 1994), which could be especially challenging for newcomers. We already found that newcomers have lower need for social information compared to employees in other stages, so the less they feel motivated to connect with their colleagues online the less accepted and socialized they would be (Kim, Cable & Kim, 2005). That could lead to lower commitment levels (Ardts, Jansen & van der Velde, 2001), which in turn could influence their reserve to act as organizational ambassadors (Xiong et al., 2013).
Second, we established that the more employees experience concerns related to the exploration stage the less they engage in participating and producing work-related social media behavior. We speculated that their needs might be an explanation for that and we found that organizational ambassadorship need mediates the relationship between employees in exploration stage and their lack of producing and participating behavior. This is in line with what we already stated about the characteristics of organizational ambassadors. It makes sense
that newcomers will have insufficient organizational knowledge (Low et al., 2016) so they will not be able to participate in a social media dialogue where their information deficit might be exposed. Besides they do not have the capacity yet to produce original content related to the organization due to their inexperience. While the lack of organizational ambassadorship need might explain the social media behavior to a certain extent, there are other factors that might possibly influence it. The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) lends itself useful in understanding why employees decide to engage in certain behaviors. The attitudes
employees have towards the behavior, the subjective norms in the organization and the perceptions of behavioral control impact their behavioral intention. Thus, we can speculate that if an employee personally holds the idea that sharing work-related content online is inappropriate or might harm him in some way, he or she will restrain themselves from performing this behavior. Similarly, if the organization has policies restricting the discussion of work-related topics online or the effort to do so is too big, employees will be reluctant to engage in participating or producing. What would be specifically relevant for employees in the exploration stage is their perceptions of how capable they are to participate and produce work-related content or their idea for self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977). Due to the high levels of uncertainty and the need for crystallization of their self-concepts (Low et al., 2016) employees in exploration stage will be less likely to believe in their abilities to perform at the level needed for attaining positive impact from the work-related social media behavior.
Limitations
One of the most notable limitations of this research is the lack of unanimous
understanding among the authors how to conceptualize and measure career stages (Bedeian et al, 1991). In our study we relied on the idea that careers have linear, predictable trajectories while nowadays there is a notion that employees’ careers develop in a non-traditional, cyclic
way (Briscoe, Hall & DeMuth, 2006). Additionally, in line with the idea of boundaryless career there is an emerging belief that at the present time career stages are shorter in duration, reoccur periodically over the course of an employee’s career and may be experienced in different organizations. (Greenhaus et al, 2009). Our results also showed that there is a need for a different measurement of the career stages that takes into account the lack of clear cut-off points (Gould et al., 1978) and the fact that the idea for career stages as discreet values is not applicable due to the dynamic employment transitions individuals experience. The fact that we used convenience sampling is also part of the limitations of this study. We recruited respondents through social media, e-mails and forums. Given that some of the respondents were social media users our data may have been biased in a way that it represented more people who were already active online. Besides we recruited respondents in our own network, which has led to a relatively young sample. This has two repercussions. First, given that we were researching social media behavior and that younger employees’ use technologies differently than older ones (Morris & Venkatesh, 2000), we might have drawn conclusions that cannot be generalized for wider population. Second, only 8.2% of the respondents were senior or executive level managers which means that the sample may have been skewed by representing mainly less experienced employees. Furthermore, we used cross-sectional design and due to the lack of longitudinal data, we cannot set the career progress effect apart from the age effect. Thus, we are uncertain whether the effects we found are due to differences between generations in social media use or are a consequence of career progress.
The practical implications of this study suggest that organizations need to pay special attention to the needs of the employees in exploration career stage. A possible solution can be to introduce social media policies that encourage mindful participation online. In this manner newcomers can benefit by accelerating their socialization process and organizations can gain
advantage by empowering enthusiastic new employees in becoming ambassadors of the company.
The power of employees to influence the organizational conversation is set to grow in the future. This study found that junior employees do not contribute to the work-related social media dialogue and thus do not explicitly enhance their employer’s reputation. Therefore, employees need more support or encouragement in order to become the online organizational ambassadors their companies want them to be. Whether organizations will rise to the occasion and accept this challenge by empowering their employees is something that we will inevitably see soon.
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Appendix
Career stages
Please indicate the level of concern you currently have for each of the tasks listed below:
1 = Not at all concerned, 2 = Slightly concerned, 3 = Somewhat concerned, 4 = Moderately concerned, 5 = Extremely concerned
Finding an organization that I am best suited to work for Finding a line of work in an organization that interests me Getting started in my organization
Settling down in an organization I can stay with
Becoming especially knowledgeable in my organization Planning how to get ahead in my organization
Keeping the respect of the people in my organization
Attending trainings and seminars related to the work in my organization Striving to get a management position and gain more responsibilities Finding a better job to leave my organization
Quitting my job
Actively looking for a job outside my organization
1. I am narrowing career choices and considering what type of work I want to pursue. I am developing plans to fulfil my career goals, identify potential employers and begin with the interview process.
2. I started working at an organization and expect to stay there for a certain period. I am settling into my job and becoming more comfortable and secure in my field. I am focused on improving my performance.I am seeking new upward mobility and promotion.
3. I pursue continuing education, skills trainings and other opportunities to attain the most current job skills necessary to be effective in my field. I am looking for creative or more effective ways of performing my career tasks. I am fostering the development of others and strengthening the organization.
4. I am slowing down and beginning to think about switching fields. I am becoming disinterested and researching new opportunities outside of my career field.
Please answer the questions below.
How long have you been working in your professional field?
Instruction: In your answer consider the work experience in your current professional field in all organizations you have worked for. For example, if you are an engineer and have been working 3 years at one company then you have moved to another company and worked there again as engineer for 2 years, you have been working 5 years in your professional field.
Please, do not include work experience in a field not relevant to your current profession. For example, if you have been working as an engineer for 6 months but before that you have
worked in customer service for 2 years, you have been working in your professional field for 6 months.
____ Years ____Months
How long have you been working at your current organization?
Instruction: In your answer consider the start of your employment at your current
organization no matter the professional field. For example, if you have worked as a customer service representative for 2 years at your current organization and then you have been working as an engineer for 3 years at the same organization, you have been working 5 years for your current organization.
Please, do not include organizational experience before your current starting date. For example, if you have worked for 2 years at your current organization then moved to another organization and returned back to your current 6 months ago, you have been working for your current organization for 6 months.
____ Years ____Months
How long have you been working at your current position?
Instruction: In your answer consider your tenure at the most recent work position. For
example, if you have been working as an engineer for 2 years but 6 months ago you have been promoted to senior engineer, you have been working at your current position for 6 months.
____ Years ____Months
Work-related social media behavior
How often do you engage in work-related social media behavior?
Instruction: Engaging means reading, accessing, liking, commenting, following, posting content online. If you are employed work-related content means any information that includes references to your job, the organization you work for or the professional field you work in. If you are unemployed work-related content means any information related to a potential job, employer or professional field (job advertisements on social media platforms, social media profiles of organizations you want to work for, etc.)
1 = Never, 2 = Almost never, 3 = Rarely, 4 = Sometimes, 5 = Frequently, 6 = Almost every day, 7 = Every day
How often do you use the following social media for engaging with work-related content?
1 = Never, 2 = Almost never, 3 = Rarely, 4 = Sometimes, 5 = Frequently, 6 = Almost every day, 7 = Every day
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