The Influence of Social Media on the Career of High
School Teachers
A study among high school teachers about preventing the risks and making full
use of the opportunities that come along with their use of social media
Author:
Mart Haarhuis
Student ID:
S3273164
Programme:
MSc. BA – Organizational & Management Control
Supervisor:
Dr. Sakshi Girdhar
Word count:
12084
2
A
BSTRACT
Social media is a new phenomenon that has grown enormously in the past few years. This gives rise to a lot of new risks and opportunities in the working field of high school teachers. This study examines how social media can influence the professional career of a high school teacher. Thirteen interviews were conducted with high school teachers from two different locations of the Dr. Nassau College. The findings show that high school teachers maintain and manage their social media profiles in such a way that reduces the risks that come along with social media to a minimum and make full use of the opportunities that come along with it. This is done by shielding social media profiles and applying impression management techniques. Teachers always try to show the best version of themselves. This is done by putting emphasis on positive qualities, exaggerating capabilities and even by lying. This study contributes to the existing literature by offering some new insights regarding the use of social media & impression management. It also provides several opportunities for future research regarding these topics.
Keywords: Social Media, Teachers, High Schools, Reputation, Risk, Impression Management,
Self-Presentation, Reputation
Acknowledgement
3
I
NTRODUCTION
The aim of this paper is to explore how social media influences the professional career of a teacher. The importance of the use of social media has grown enormously in the past years. This can be said for both the personal and the work related field (Vinerean, 2017). This is especially true for teachers, since social media is very popular among high school students (CBS, 2015). Social media is used by a lot of people to communicate and stay in touch with each other. It is used for job networking, marketing, entertainment and to maintain a person’s social network. It also has a big potential to support organizations in their hiring decisions (Clark & Roberts, 2010). The way that people establish relationships, make connections and communicate with each other has been changed by social media (Beal & Strauss, 2008). Social media also gives a great indication of how people act within groups, since their behaviour can be monitored on these platforms (Hauptmann & Steger, 2013).
Recruiters are discovering that the social media profile of a professional tells them a lot more than a resume and motivation letter (Brandenburg, 2008). A social media profile is the most accurate way to see who people actually are (Meinert, 2011). Human resource managers are looking more and more at social media profiles to find information about their job candidates (Slovensky & Ross, 2012). How a candidate presents themselves on social media, can tell an employer a lot about them. Employers might even be disconcerted by a lack of social media presence (Stam, 2018). Recruiters who look at the social media profiles of candidates, admit that this has some influence on the decision to hire the candidate (Brandenburg, 2008).
Another issue that arises from the use of social media is that it can influence the extent to which colleagues judge an individual they work with as a professional (Chretien, Farnan, Greysen & Kind, 2011). While professionals normally only have professional contact with people aged 18 years and older, this is different for teachers. They work intensively with high school students, who are aged 12-18 years. An article on CBS.nl (2015) shows that 99 percent of children aged 12-12-18 years in the Netherlands uses social media, while another article on CBS.nl (2015) shows that 80 percent of all inhabitants in the Netherlands use social media. This could make it difficult for high school teachers to set and maintain professional boundaries while using social media (Chretien, Farnan, Greysen & Kind, 2011). This is because the line between personal life and working life can become blurred, which might result in teachers losing prevalence over their students.
4
media overstates the positive impacts of social media on the sharing of knowledge and being open about almost everything in our lives, including both personal and work related things (Gibbs, Rozaidi & Eisenberg, 2013). Social media is used to keep in touch with old classmates, former colleagues and friends (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007). Cotten & Wilson (2006) show that it is important and beneficial for students to have contact with teachers apart from the professional setting. If students benefit from this contact, then this might also be the case for the teachers. An easy and accessible way to have this informal contact might be through social media. But social media can also have downsides. A research conducted by Sharifi (2013) showed that applicants can get rejected because of their social media profile. Unprofessional behaviour on social media has also led to dismissal (Chretien, Farnan, Greysen & Kind, 2011). Furthermore it can have a huge influence on the way that other colleagues (teachers) or high school students see and judge high school teachers. Posting ‘drunk’ pictures or other unprofessional content on their social media, can without a doubt harm the reputation of an employee within the firm, but also within this person’s network and is deemed as unacceptable (Field & Chelliah, 2012; Chretien, Farnan, Greysen & Kind, 2011; Jain, Petty, Jaber, Tackett, Purkiss, Fitzgerald & White, 2014). This might have a huge influence on the career of a high school teacher. Impression management has been used by job candidates to influence the hiring decisions of organizations. This is done through the use of resumes and cover letters (Waung, McAuslan, DiMambro & Miegoc, 2017; Tsai, Chi, Huang & Hsu, 2011). Recruiters are using resumes, cover letters and social media for their hiring decisions (Brandenburg, 2008). Since using impression management to change resumes and cover letters has an influence on the hiring decisions, this might also be the case for social media profiles. Everything that is posted on social media, is available and visible for everybody, so people whom it was intended for, but also for people whom it may have not been intended for. This can cause misuse of the content which can harm the reputation of a teacher, that can have huge consequences (Leonaridi, Huysman & Steinfield, 2013).
5
backfires. To fill this research gap, the above has led to the following research question: “How does
social media influence the professional career of a teacher?”
This study contributes to the existing literature in multiple ways. First, it elaborates on the study of Chretien, Farnan, Greysen & Kind (2011) on how professional boundaries between students and teachers are maintained and controlled to create job opportunities and manage risks. Second, it elaborates on the theory of impression management on social media, especially how impression management is used by high school teachers to make full use of the opportunities that come along with the use of social media.
This thesis is constructed as follows. The first chapter, which is this chapter, is the introduction. The next chapter is the literature review. This will be followed by the methodology. The fourth chapter contains the results of this research. The final chapter of the thesis contains the discussion and the conclusion. The thesis ends with an appendix, which includes an overview of the teachers that were interviewed and the interview questions that were used during these interviews.
L
ITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the theory that is relevant for this research will be explained. First, the general concept of social media will be described. After this it will be discussed what the impact of social media is on the recruitment process, to gain precognition about how teachers might use social media to influence their career paths. The third sub-chapter describes the impact that social media can have on the reputation of a teacher within his/her working environment, since this can also influence the career path of a teacher. The last sub-chapter describes impression management and how it might change the behaviour on social media platforms of high school teachers.
Social media
6
interactive, the range is enormous and everybody can access it (McFarland & Ployhard, 2015). Social media sites are growing fast and are becoming crucial to consumers. A quarter of the time that users spend online, is spent on social media (Elefant, 2011). Human interaction is also changing because of the use of social media. It is even changing the way in which personal information is accessed. Social interaction was the original reason that social media was developed, but nowadays firms are using social media to get in touch and make contact with customers and job candidates (Gibbs, MacDonald & MacKay, 2015).
Social media use
7
platforms from being able to see the content that they post on their social media profiles. The teachers can choose who has access to see the content on their social media profiles and who does not have access. This can be done as some sort of reputation control.
But these leaky pipes also mean that it is easy to track what other people are doing, which can be seen as a pro (Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield, 2013). This is because seeing how other people are using their social media profiles and how they are representing themselves on these platforms, can be imitated. Especially when someone knows a connection from social media in real life. This is because this person can then compare how his connection presents himself in real life, to how his connection presents himself on social media. This could indicate that a person is presenting a better picture of himself, than he actually is (Hooghiemstra, 2000).
People always try to be in the best circumstances. They try to influence this by choosing their friends, jobs (colleagues) and their hobbies with the utmost care (Schlenkler & Weigold, 1992). It is expected that teachers also do this when choosing which people and colleagues to add as a friend on their social media profiles, since this might create or vanish job opportunities. This is also a good way to use opinion conformity, which is about agreeing with the people a person wants to be liked by or sharing all the same interests and thus posts on social media of the people a person wants to be liked by (Gilmore & Ferris, 1989). People always want to show the best version of themselves (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2011). Once an individual has gained a good reputation, it is important that this reputation is maintained. The more the reputation of an individual exceeds its true character, the more this individual is exposed to the risk of reputation damage (Eccles, Newquist & Schatz, 2007). It is expected that teachers will take measures to protect their reputation from taking damage.
Impression management
8
used to show confidence or power (Schlenker, 1980), and artefactual displays, which can be used to create a certain image (Davis, 1984).
As mentioned before, self-presentation is the most outstanding type of impression management (Schneider, 1981). It is used to show competence and to gain respect by building on previous success and achievements (Young, Gardner III & Gilbert, 1994). Most people who use this type of impression management, try to stick to their true self. They exaggerate capabilities or leave out negative things. This means that they are not lying, but basically put emphasis on the positive and good aspects / capabilities that they possess (Schlenker & Weigold, 1992). Self-presentation will be explained in more detail next.
Self-presentation is about trying to make other people to believe that a person is qualified and capable of doing the job (Giacalone & Rosenfeld, 1986). Self-presentation is used most in situations where an individual feels like they need to appear better than they actually are. This can be in business settings or job interviews (Jones & Pittman, 1982). This could also be the case for social media, since social media is all about presenting yourself to the world. People exaggerate the time-frame that they have worked at a previous job to get rid of the gaps that were created when people were in between jobs and report to have received a higher salary than they actually did (Goldstein, 1971). Teachers might do this on their LinkedIn profiles, to seem more interesting to recruiters. A personality test that has been done among high school students showed that the students reported higher scores on their personality aspects when the students knew that the test was for a more important job opening (Gordon & Stapleton, 1956). They basically manipulated the information about them, because they knew that this would benefit them. It is expected that teachers will also apply this strategy on their social media profiles. Some people try to create a desired image of themselves that does not represent the true image of themselves and are thus basically lying (Leary, 1995). Analysts have reported that this extreme form of self-presentation is only applied by a certain type of people. These people are usually misleading, seeking power or control, or are people that are insecure about their own capabilities (Schlenker & Weigold, 1992).
9
thus influence how society views them (Aral, Dellarocas & Godes, 2013). If organizations use social media to influence how they are viewed by individuals, then individuals might also use social media to influence how organizations view them. This could be done by adjusting social media profiles to look more professional. A teacher could for example only post pictures of himself while wearing a suit and meeting with a lot of other teachers. Using and applying impression management could also be as small as emphasising on the positive qualities that an individual possesses, while making it hard to read the negative aspects. This could for example be done by writing a lot about the positive qualities that a teacher has, and only writing one small sentence about the bad qualities (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2011).
The reason why impression management might work on recruiters is because they have bounded rationality (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2011). This means that the information that recruiters have is limited and they do not have infinite time to make the hiring decision. It might be the case that they make decisions on false information. There are different tactics that can cause this information asymmetry. Using entitlements, which is about taking credit for the work of other people created. Another tactic is using enhancement, which is about convincing other people about ones capabilities and attributes that they do not actually possess (Weiss & Feldman, 2006).
To sum up, social media has a big impact on the way people live nowadays. Organizations use social media often, for marketing purposes, but also for the recruitment of new employees. Social media can also have a huge impact on the reputation that a teacher has within a high school, it comes along with a lot of risks. It would be logical that measures are taken to prevent social media from damaging the reputation of teachers and to prevent the risks from influencing the career of a teacher. On the other hand, social media also comes along with a lot of opportunities. It would seem logical that teachers feel pressure to change their social media profiles in such a way that it benefits their reputation and in a way that makes them most suitable for the opportunities that are presented to them. It would be interesting to find out how teachers do this. How does social media influence the professional career of high school teachers?
M
ETHODOLOGY
Research approach
10
perspective of a teacher. Therefore theory development is necessary to understand how teachers can use social media to influence their career paths, and thus benefit from it.
To answer the questions in this topic, qualitative research is the most suitable. This is because understanding the underlying relationships and explanations is required (Eisenhardt, 1989). Since this study focuses on how social media is used to influence the professional career of high school teachers, the qualitative interview questions will be asked to high school teachers.
Data collection
The instrument that is used to gather the primary data is a qualitative one. Data is gathered using semi-structured interviews, since using such an interview gives the interviewer space to improvise and ask questions about new ideas that arise during the interview (Edwards & Holland, 2013). The target group for the interviews are teachers who work at a high school. The reason for this target group is that teachers are not only socially checked by recruiters, their managers and their colleagues, but also by the students that they teach. Social media is very popular among high school students (DUO Onderwijsonderzoek & Advies, 2017). They post everything they do and see on social media, this can also include things that a teacher did during a lecture, which can also influence the career of a teacher. This makes teachers a genuine interesting target group to investigate. The interviews are conducted at two different high schools from the Dr. Nassau College in the Netherlands. The first one is Penta, which is located in Assen. The other one is Norg, which is located in Norg. In total thirteen teachers were interviewed, within a time frame of one month. An overview of the interviewees is given in appendix A. The average duration of the interviews is approximately 30 minutes, the shortest interview was approximately 20 minutes, while the longest interview was approximately 40 minutes. The age of the teachers varied between 24 and 39 years old. All the interviews were conducted in Dutch, due to the translation process some information might have gotten lost. (Van Ness, Abma, Jonsson & Deeg, 2010). To keep the information that gets lost due to translation, to a minimum, the translation-process was done with a lot of precision, accuracy and attention. To make sure that the interviews went smoothly, a pilot was also done before starting with the real interviews.
11
Data analysis
The main themes that emerged during the interviews were social media in general, the use of social media within a working environment, the risks and opportunities that come along with social media and, lastly, social media and impression management. These themes were used to make sure that the participant had a good understanding of what social media is, to gather positive and negative effects of social media while having a job, to determine which positive and negative influences social media has while looking for new job opportunities and to determine if impression management is applied on social media, to make full use of the opportunities that come along with the use of social media. To make sure that the right information was gathered from the interviews, the interviews were recorded. Afterwards these recordings were transcribed. These transcripts were coded and categorized based on the process of Thomas (2006). After the coding and categorization was finished, all the results were compared. This whole process was done manually.
R
ESULTS
The results will be discussed in this chapter. First it will be established how teachers in high schools see social media. Then it will be established how teachers in high schools use social media while applying for a job and maintain their reputation while having a job. Next are the experienced risks by teachers and the measures that they take to prevent those risks from happening. After this, the opportunities that teachers experience and that arise from social media are discussed. The final part is about the impression management techniques that teachers use to get the most out of the opportunities that their social media profiles give them.
View on social media
All participants state that they view social media as a new and innovative way to present themselves to the outside world and to keep in contact with and expand their network. However, the participants also indicate that they know that they should not take everything too literally, since people only show the positive and good side of themselves. This is in line with the existing theory of McFarland & Ployhard (2015) and Elefant (2011). This also refers to the theory of Talbot & Boiral (2014), since people use social media as a strategy to create a desired social image. Overall, the most used platforms by the participants are Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
“Colleagues of me only show the positive sides and really emphasize on this. They only show how great they are and want to look super interesting. They do everything to give their career only the
12
Social media is also used to leave a good impression on one’s supervisor. Sharing a lot of posts about educating students, shows being involved in education. Sharing posts about activities that are organised by the high school a person is working on, is seen as showing involvement in the school as well. It shows that a person has the same interests and agrees on the same aspects, this is also called opinion conformity (Gilmore & Ferris, 1989). Since it will result in the supervisor appreciating the person, who shares the content, more. This might create more future job opportunities.
“If I share a lot of things about educating students and show that I am really involved in the school that I work on, then this will of course positively influence the way my supervisor sees me and thus
enhance my future job opportunities.” – Teacher 1
Importance of social media in the working field
Eleven out of the thirteen participants think that it is important to adjust their social media profile before applying for a job, but it depends on the type of job and function a person is applying for. For teachers this is more important than a function where a visual representation or reputation is not that important.
“I think a recruiter will always check the social media profile of an applicant. It says a lot about a person, so it is important that you represent yourself in a good way [ .. ] for a teacher diplomas and
certificates are not the only things that matter, you also need to be representative.” – Teacher 9
Social media offers a lot of opportunities to enhance the career of a teacher. As Brown & Vaughn (2011) state, a good social media profile can indicate if a candidate is a good fit or not. Teachers indicate that they certainly notice the benefits of having an up-to-date LinkedIn profile. Teachers receive a lot of job offers from recruiters via LinkedIn, even to the extent to which it gets annoying.
“Sometimes I find it really annoying, I get approached by recruiters and other schools a lot. Of course this gives me a lot of opportunities, especially when I get tired of my current job, but for now I do not
really like this.” – Teacher 6
13
“At a previous school where I worked, a student posted a selfie on Facebook which showed a student together with a teacher while drinking beers. The concerned teacher was called to the office of the manager the next day and got an official warning. If I remember correctly he resigned later that year
because he could not get rid of his damaged reputation.” – Teacher 4
It is important for high school teachers to maintain a good reputation, because they have to set an example for the students. It is not possible for high school teachers to post everything that is on their mind, on their social media profiles. Therefore, it is important that high school teachers think twice before posting pictures on their social media profile. Posting an inappropriate picture or an opinion, which is not socially accepted, can have huge consequences for their career (Field & Chelliah, 2012). The participants indicated to be very cautious with the content that they post.
“There was a teacher who posted racists remarks on his Facebook profile, he was fired afterwards.”
– Teacher 11
“An intern spoke her mind on Facebook about a fatal accident that happened, she was let go of afterwards.” – Teacher 11
Social media can have a huge negative effect on the career of a teacher. Students always search for the social media profile of a teacher. Sometimes they find content which they can use against the teacher. This extends to the theory of Field & Chelliah (2012), who state that social media can definitely harm the reputation of an individual. If the teacher is not favoured by the students, he might get bullied with the weird content that the students found. In some cases, this results in the teacher losing his prevalence on the group, which in turn influences how the teacher performs. If a teacher is not performing well enough, or simply performing beneath his capabilities, then this might cost him his promotion or might even get him fired.
“If you look like a creep on your social media profile, students will start to ask questions about this. You might lose your authority, which will definitely influence the way you perform and thus how you
are viewed and reviewed by your supervisor.” – Teacher 11
14
“At a previous school where I worked, there was this trend were they made memes about teachers. Fortunately the things that they made about me were funny, and not at all harmful. [..] There were teachers who pressed charges against the students [..] some teachers totally lost their prevalence, because of this, their functioning deteriorated that much that they had to look for a job at a different
school.” – Teacher 4
All the participants state to take measures to avoid the risks that come along with social media. Furthermore, all of the participants stated to have ‘shielded’ their social media profiles. This means that their social media profiles are not available for everybody to see, but only for people that the teachers have added as a friend. Because of this measure, the teachers feel like they have control over the content that is posted on social media platforms and thus have control over their reputation (Eccles, Newquist & Schatz, 2007).
“I shielded all my social media profiles in such a way that they are only available for my friends.” – Teacher 5
The teachers thus try to prevent the leaky pipes from happening and want to stay in control of the content that other social media users can see of them (Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013). If a third party posts an inappropriate picture of them, they state to contact the concerned party and request that this picture is taken down.
“Once a club posted pictures from the previous evening, one of the pictures showed me being drunk. I emailed the club and fortunately they removed the picture.” – Teacher 3
Of course there is variation in the extent to which these measures are taken. The measure that is taken by all the participants is to not add their current students on any social media platform. The reason for this is that it is an ‘unwritten rule’ to not add students. But only three out of thirteen participants indicate that they would without a doubt see the dangers of adding students on social media. The risk that these three participants see is that the border between work and private lives becomes too vague. This would lead to the teachers losing their supremacy, which would influence their performance, which could eventually lead to not getting a promotion or losing their job. This is in line with the theory of Schlenkler & Weigold (1992), who state that people always try to be in the best circumstances and try to influence this by thoroughly choosing their friends. The teachers thus do this by consciously not friending their students.
“It is an unwritten rule to not add students on Facebook” – Teacher 6
15
(Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield, 2013). Another reason for this is also to choose thoroughly who to befriend, since adding colleagues might also create opportunities or risks. This is thus also building on the theory of Schlenkler & Weigold (1992).
“I do not add all my colleagues on my social media platforms, I do not want everybody to get involved in my personal life.” – Teacher 2
Teachers are cautious with what content they post on social media. They indicate to not share their opinions on these platforms. They always think twice before posting content. Teachers are definitely aware of the impact that social media can have on their reputation and thus their career, which is in line with the theory of Field & Chelliah (2012).
“I make sure to not post any weird stuff on my Facebook.” – Teacher 4
The adjusting of the social media profile is thus all about looking professional towards an organization, recruiters, future colleagues and in the case of the teachers, also the high school students. There is more to social media than just the risks. Like mentioned before, social media also gives lots of new job opportunities, can extend the network that a person has and is an important aspect in the modern age we live in. This is also indicated by the participants. Adding colleagues on social media profiles is done by all the participants, but the extent to which it is done differs. Adding colleagues is seen as an excellent way to expand a professional network and to get to know fellow colleagues on a more private level. The latter has a positive influence on the working environment, since it is connecting people within a firm (Dimicco & Millen, 2007; Neeley & Leonardi, 2017). Colleagues that a person has bonded with, are more valuable for their network than colleagues this person has not bonded with. So connecting on a personal level enhances a person’s network and thus future job opportunities.
“Adding my colleagues on LinkedIn is obviously expanding my professional network.” – Teacher 7
There is, however, a difference between adding colleagues and supervisors. Only two out of thirteen participants have added their supervisor as a friend on Facebook. This is a conscious choice, as participants would feel controlled and watched by their supervisor, anxious to do something on social media that might change the way they are viewed, which can have a negative impact on their career. The reason for this fear, is that people always want to be seen as the best version of themselves (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2011). For example, calling in sick, but being active on social media at the same time, does not make this person look good towards his supervisor.
“Imagine I called in sick, meanwhile I am active on my social media profiles during the day. I am afraid that if my supervisor sees this, that he will judge me for it, which would have negative
16
There are also social media profiles that are created to aid a teacher with his teaching. For example, an Instagram account which only consists of work-related videos and pictures. This is not only created for the purpose of high school students, but also to look good towards others and maybe even getting famous because of it. This account is certainly steered to show the positive skills of the teacher and to show his capabilities to keep up with the new technology and innovative trends. This can absolutely change the view that other people have on this person as a teacher (Aral, Dellarocas & Godes, 2013).
“I have an Instagram account in which I post videos about my lectures. This can be about assignments that students have to make, but also about funny or good situations that happened during the lectures. [..] I really think this account is a positive thing for me. It shows that I am involved and I really address the ‘experience world’ of my target group. [..] everybody can see this social media profile, but I only post the things that I want other people to see, I steer this exactly in the way that I
want to, which is to create a professional image of course.” – Teacher 1
“There are teachers who post their lectures on Instagram accounts, this is a golden opportunity. It is really good for your career. It shows that you dare to be different and can feel and anticipate that these things work. As a teacher you get appreciated because of this, people see your extra qualities and how you distinguish yourself. This gives opportunities for new jobs or promotions.” – Teacher 4
There are success stories of teachers who were excellent at their job and excelled in getting into touch with the social media generation. Their videos are very popular, which has given their career a boost.
“I know that there are teachers who are very good at physics. They post videos which are watched a lot. I am convinced that this has given their career a boost. It really creates opportunities, you cannot
ignore that.” – Teacher 4
Another participant stated that he thinks that in this modern age it is important to keep up with the new trends. Social media is one of these trends. This means that missing out on it, will definitely result in missing new job opportunities.
“In this modern age it is really important to keep up to date with all the new trends, this is no different for social media. You keep contact with innovation and new opportunities, which is in my
opinion really important.” – Teacher 12
Deception through social media
17
optimal use of the opportunities that come along ones path. Eight out of the thirteen participants indicate that they shape their social media profiles in such a way that they think will look better towards friends, colleagues, future colleagues and recruiters, or that they have seen some sort of impression management at the social media profiles from (former) colleagues or former fellow students. This is in line with the theory of Merkl-Davies & Brennan (2011), who state that impression management is used to create an image to be favoured by other people. This exactly what the teachers state to do.
Exaggerating time-frame
Teachers argue that having a gap on their LinkedIn profile, makes them look less attractive to recruiters and thus give them less new job opportunities or makes them less suitable for the job they want. There are different methods that are used to disguise the gaps. This can be as small as stating a teacher started at his new company on the first of the month, when actually he started at the end of the month. This is in line with the theory of Goldstein (1971) who states that people exaggerate the time frame that they have worked a certain job. This is also done on social media.
“When I started my job on the 20th of September, I stated on LinkedIn that I started in September, so
it looks like I started 20 days earlier. This made the gap smaller.” – Teacher 3
Another way that the gaps are disguised is completely making up working experience. It is known that not all the working experience is checked. This is not doable due to the fact that recruiters have bounded rationality (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2011), people make misuse of this. This is adding to the theory of Goldstein (1971), it is a way to do disguise gaps on resumes. Making up jobs or exaggerating the time frame can be seen as the same thing, since it has the same impact.
“When I was still doing my study, there was a fellow student of mine who filled in gaps on his LinkedIn profile to look more interesting towards recruiters, he thought the gaps would make him look lazy,
and thus filling in the gaps made him more interesting towards recruiters.” – Teacher 6
Participant also indicate that they think having multiple different jobs within a short timeframe, makes them look less interesting. It was stated by three participants that they would not mention working experience on their LinkedIn profile, if they had only worked at a certain high school for less than 2 months. It was also stated that they would consider not mentioning working experience, if they left the job on a bad note. Most surprisingly, even these gaps were disguised.
18
experience from which I knew them, what I found even more surprising was that they even filled in the gaps with other activities.” – Teacher 9
These results can also be explained by the theory of Merkl-Davies & Brennan (2011), which state that people have bounded rationality. Recruiters do not know what is true and what is not. They do not have the time and capacity available to check all the work experiences that are listed at LinkedIn profiles.
Over-qualifying on LinkedIn
Eleven out of the thirteen participants state the importance of monitoring and keeping their LinkedIn profile up to date. Which means stating all the work experience, diplomas and certificates that they have. This is confirmed by the theory of Young, Gardner III & Gilbert (1994) about self-promotion. It is, however, indicated by three participants, that over-qualifying is also a thing that is happening on the LinkedIn profiles. This takes multiple different forms.
One participant stated that he does not consciously lie on his LinkedIn profile, but disguises things to make himself look better. This expands on the theory of Gordon & Stapleton (1956), who stated that people report higher scores, when they knew it was important. People exaggerate their own competences on their LinkedIn profile, because they know that it is important and can have an effect on them being interesting for recruiters or not.
“I teach chemistry, physics and mathematics and thus this is shown on my LinkedIn. I am however only competent to teach chemistry.” – Teacher 1
Another participant indicates that her husband, who is working as a teacher at a high school, also does not consciously lie on his LinkedIn profile. He does, however, show that he is currently working at a company, which is technically still correct, but he knows that he will never have to work there again. This is in line with sticking to your true self (Schlenker & Weigold, 1992). The working experience is basically true, but it probably will not happen again in the future. This means that when recruiters start asking questions about this subject, the teacher can simply be honest without any consequences.
“My boyfriend, who is also a teacher, shows on his LinkedIn that he provided tutoring, technically he is still working for the company, but he has not been working for them for at least the previous three
months. He does not delete it because he thinks that it looks good, it looks like he is still doing something extra.” – Teacher 3
19
explained by the theory of Merkl-Davies & Brennan (2011). The recruiters have bounded rationality, which is why this person got away with lying. The lying can be explained by the theory of Leary (1995). The person created an image of himself which does not represent his true image. People get a wrong idea of this persons capabilities and knowledge (Sandulescu, 2017).
“I know someone who had not finished his study, and thus did not have a diploma. His LinkedIn profile did however show that he had finished the study. He got a job which was related to the study that he
showed he had passed, they never checked if he really got his diploma.” – Teacher 6
D
ISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In this study, the impact of social media on the career of teacher in high schools was researched. This section will provide a discussion and conclusion about the results that were gathered regarding the impact of social media. This will be based on and connected back to the relevant theory that was discussed. Next the contribution of the study to the already existing literature will be discussed. The last part of this section consists of the limitations of the study and the opportunities for future research.
As mentioned in the literature about social media, social media is a fast growing phenomenon (Mortleman, 2011; Field & Chelliah, 2012). It is a platform to keep into contact with your social network (McFarland & Ployhard, 2015). This was confirmed by the participants. They use it to keep into contact with their social network, but do mention to know that they should not take everything that is posted too literally. Then it was argued that social media has become an important aspect within organizations, it is a medium that is used for finding the right fit for the job (Van Iddekinge, Lavivich, Roth & Junco, 2013). It is indeed confirmed by the participants: recruiters contact them often through social media. This study, however, reveals that hiring through social media is sometimes experienced as annoying by high school teachers, they get spammed a lot by recruiters. This is thus expanding to the theory of Van Iddekinge, Lavivich, Roth & Junco (2013).
20
Then it was mentioned by Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013) that social media can cause hierarchy problems. This is also confirmed by the teachers. Teachers have been bullied through social media, which resulted in them losing their prevalence on their students. However, the theory by Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013) is about creating hierarchy problems through social media because of colleagues and their bosses getting too friendly with one another. What was found in this study is that hierarchy problems also arise from students bullying teachers through social media. This is thus adding to the existing literature.
Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013) also discuss ‘leaky pipes’, which is about content reaching people who it was not intended for. This could influence the career of a teacher. In line with this theory, the teachers did indeed confirm that they are afraid of these so called ‘leaky pipes’. However, they also indicated to take measures to prevent these ‘leaky pipes’ from happening. If a photo or certain content is posted on social media, without the consent of the concerned person, then they would ask the person who posted it to remove this photo / content. This is adding to the literature of Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013). Another measure that is taken by teachers to prevent the ‘leaky pipes’ from happing is ‘shielding’ their social media profiles. This means that the content that they post is only accessible for the people who they have added as friends on their social media profiles. This is thus also adding to the literature of Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013).
Furthermore it was discussed that people always try to be in the best circumstances that they can by choosing their friends and colleagues (Schlenkler & Weigold, 1992). This study finds that this is also what teachers do on their social media profiles. This is thus adding to the theory of Schlenkler & Weigold (1992), because it is extended to the application of their theory on social media platforms. Teachers do not add students, but do add certain colleagues on their social media profiles. However, they do make a distinction between which colleagues they add and which they do not add. This is done because teachers feel that adding the right colleagues is definitely expanding their professional network and thus positively influencing their professional career.
21
A lot of opportunities present themselves through the use of social media, and having a good reputation is important for a high school teacher while having a job. This is why teachers always want to show the best version of themselves. The impression that people have of an individual can be steered in a certain way, to be viewed favourably (Schlenker & Weigold, 1992). The participants confirm this theory by indicating to do this themselves, or to know people who have done this. Goldstein (1971) stated that people exaggerate the time-frame that they have worked at a previous job, to get rid of the gaps that are created when people were in between jobs. This study confirms and extents this theory, since it was found that teachers also apply this on social media. Another extension that this study does towards the theory of Goldstein (1971) is that it revealed that people not only exaggerate time-frames, but also make up fake job experience to get rid of the gaps. This was an unexpected result.
Another technique of impression management that is used by teachers, is over-qualifying. This extends the theory of Gordon & Stapleton (1956), who reported that people report higher scores, when they knew that it was important. Teachers do this by showing to teach multiple courses, but only being competent to teach one course. Another thing that was done is lying about having graduated, with persons making up to have to have obtained their diplomas and even getting a job related to these fake diplomas. This confirms the theory of Leary (1995), who states that people make up an image, that does not represent their true image. This is however a real extreme case.
The most unexpected results were the following: (1) Teachers contact third parties to have them delete content on social media that could harm their professional reputation. (2) Some teachers lie about their working experience to disguise gaps between jobs. (3) One teacher could get a job related to a diploma, which he had never obtained.
To return to the research question “How does social media influence the professional career of a
teacher?” the following is concluded. There are a lot of risks for teachers that come along with using
22
try to create an image that closely matches the true image of themselves, but lying by exaggerating time-frames or over-qualifying on their social media profiles is also a thing that is done.
This study contributes to the already existing theory about social media, social media & recruitment and social media & impression management. It confirms the theory that social media is used more and more these days and it highlights the risk that come along with social media and the influence that this can have on the career of a teacher. Next, it confirms the theory that social media is used a lot by recruiters to find new employees. It adds to this theory, since it was identified that this can be experienced as annoying. Furthermore, it extends the theory of hierarchy problems that are created through social media, by identifying that these problems also arise from students bullying teachers on social media platforms. Finally, it confirms the theory of impression management and extends it by conforming the extension of impression management towards social media. The aspects of self-presentation while using impression management have been converted to the social media field. The study also extended the theory of impression management by connecting the extreme form of lying to exaggerating time-frames and over qualifying. This means that this study has practical relevance, since it provides high school teachers with information about the risks that they face and what they can do to manage these. It also shows them which impression management techniques can be applied on social media. At last, it also provides recruiters with the information about which impression management techniques are used on social media, and of which they thus need to be aware.
This study does have some limitations. The first limitation is regarding the content of the interviews. Some subjects within the interview were quite sensitive, since it was basically asking participants if they lie on their social media profiles. Even though a safe setting was created, it might still have been the case that participants did not feel safe to be completely honest about their social media behaviour. The second limitation is the age of all the participants, the oldest participant is 39 years old and most of the participants are aged between the age of 24 and 30. Because of this, it might be that the results will not hold for people aged older than the participants.
23
R
EFERENCES
Aken, van J. E., Berends, H., & Bij, van der H. (2012). Problem solving in organizations – A methodological handbook for business and management students.
Aral, S., Dellarocas, C., & Godes, D. (2013). Introduction to the Special Issue- Social Media and Business Transformation: A Framework, for Research. Information Systems Research, 24 (1), 3–13.
Beal, A., & Strauss, J. (2008). Radically transparent: Monitoring and managing reputations online. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
Benthaus, J., Risius, M., & Beck, R. (2016). Social media management strategies for organizational impression management and their effect on public perception. The Journal of Strategic Information
Systems, 25 (2), 127–139.
Brandenburg, C. (2008). The newest way to screen job applicants: a social networkers nightmare.
Federal Communications Law Journal, 60 (3), 597–626.
Brown, V.R., & Vaughn, E. D. (2011). The writing on the (Facebook) wall? The use of social networking sites in hiring decisions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26 (2), 219–225.
Casstello, I., Etter, M., & Nielsen, F.A. (2016). Strategies of Legitimacy Through Social Media: The Networked Strategy. Journal of Management Studies, 53 (3), 402–432.
CBS. (2015). Een op de zes jongeren zegt verslaafd te zijn aan sociale media. Retrieved from
https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2015/47/een-op-de-zes-jongeren-zegt-verslaafd-te-zijn-aan-sociale-media
CBS. (2015). Gebruik sociale netwerken sterk toegenomen. Retrieved from https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2015/27/gebruik-sociale-netwerken-sterk-toegenomen
Clark, L.A., & Roberts, S. J. (2010). Employer’s Use of Social Networking Sites: A Socially Irresponsible Practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 95 (1), 507–525.
Chretien, K. C., Farnan, J. M., Greysen, S. R., & Kind, T. (2011). To friend or not to friend? Social networking and faculty perceptions of online professionalism. Academic Medicine, 86 (12), 1545-1550. Cotten, S. R., & Wilson, B. (2006). Student–faculty interactions: Dynamics and determinants. Higher
Education, 51 (4), 487-519.
Davis, T.R.V. (1984). The influence of the physical environment in offices. Academy of Management
24
DiMicco, J.M., & Millen, D.R. (2007). Identity management: multiple presentations of self in Facebook.
GROUP’07, 1–3.
DUO Onderwijsonderzoek & Advies. (2017). Rapportage Onderzoek gebruik sociale media en omgang met smartphones in het voortgezet onderwijs. Retrieved from https://www.duo-
onderwijsonderzoek.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Rapportage-Sociale-mediagebruik-en-smartphones-in-het-VO-14-december-2017.pdf
Eccles, R. G., Newquist, S. C., & Schatz, R. (2007). Reputation and its risks. Harvard Business Review, 85 (2), 104.
Edwards, R., & Holland, J. (2013). What is qualitative Interviewing? (The ‘What is?’ Research Methods Series). London: Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved June 13, 2018, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781472545244
Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of management review, 14 (4), 532–550.
Elefant, C. (2011). The ‘power’ of social media: Legal issues & best practices for utilities engaging social media. Energy Law Journal, 32 (1), 1–56.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (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.
Field, J., & Chelliah, J. (2012). Social‐media misuse a ticking time‐bomb for employers: Robust policies and procedures needed to reduce the risks. Human Resource Management International Digest, 20 (7), 36–38.
Giacalone, R. A., & Rosenfeld, P. (1986). Self-presentation and self-promotion in an organizational setting. The Journal of social psychology, 126 (3), 321–326.
Gibbs, C., MacDonald, F., & MacKay, K. (2015). Social media usage in hotel human resources: recruitment, hiring and communication. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 27 (2), 170–184
Gibbs, J.L., Rozaidi, N.A., & Eisenberg, J. (2013). Overcoming the ‘Ideology of Openness’: Probing the Affordances of Social Media for Organizational Knowledge Sharing. Journal of Computer-Mediated
25
Gilmore, D. C., & Ferris, G. R. (1989). The effects of applicant impression management tactics on interviewer judgments. Journal of management, 15 (4), 557-564.
Goldstein, I. L. (1971). The application blank: How honest are the responses?. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 55 (5), 491–492.
Gordon, L. V., & Stapleton, E. S. (1956). Fakability of a forced-choice personality test under realistic high school employment conditions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 40 (4), 258.
Hauptmann, S., & Steger, T. (2013). “A Brave New (Digital) World”? Effects of in-House Social Media on HRM. Zeitschrift für Personalforschung, 27 (1), 26–46.
Hooghiemstra, R. (2000). Corporate communication and impression management – new perspectives on why companies engage in corporate social reporting. Journal of business ethics, 27 (1), 55–68. Jain, A., Petty, E. M., Jaber, R. M., Tackett, S., Purkiss, J., Fitzgerald, J., & White, C. (2014). What is appropriate to post on social media? R atings from students, faculty members and the public. Medical
education, 48 (2), 157-169.
Jones, E. E., & Pittman, T. S. (1982). Toward a general theory of strategic self-presentation.
Psychological perspectives on the self, 1 (1), 231–262.
Kacmar, K. M., Delery, J. E., & Ferris, G. R. (1992). Differential Effectiveness of Applicant Impression Management Tactics on Employment Interview Decisions 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22 (16), 1250-1272.
Kaplan, A.M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59–68.
Leary, M. R. (1995). Self-presentation: Impression management and interpersonal behavior. Brown & Benchmark Publishers.
Lee, L.F., Hutton, A.P., & Shu, S. (2015). The Role of Social Media in the Capital Market: Evidence from Consumer Product Recalls. Journal of Accounting Research, 53 (2), 367–404.
Leonardi, P.M., Huysman, M., & Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise Social Media: Definition, History, and Prospects for the Study of Social Technologies in Organizations. Journal of Compute-Mediated
Communication, 19 (1), 1–19.
26
Meinert, D. (2011). Seeing behind the mask. HR Magazine, 56 (2), 30–37.
Merkl-Davies, D.M., & Brannan, N.M (2011). A conceptual framework of impression management: new insights from psychology, sociology and critical perspectives. Accouting and Business Research, 41 (5), 415–437.
Mortleman, J. (2011). Social Media strategies. Computer Fraud & Security, 2011 (5), 8–11.
Neeley, T.B., & Leonardi, P.M. (2017). Enacting knowledge strategy through social media: Passable trust and the paradox of nonwork interactions. Strategic Management Journal, 39 (3), 922–946. Sandulescu, M-S. (2017). Impression management – an international perspective. Audit financiar, 4 (148), 605–612.
Schlenker, B.R. (1980). Impression management: The self-concept, social identity and interpersonal
relations.
Schlenker, B. R., & Weigold, M. F. (1992). Interpersonal processes involving impression regulation and management. Annual review of psychology, 43 (1), 133-168.
Schneider, D.J. (1981). Tactical self-presentations: Toward a broader conception. J.T. Tedeschi (Ed.),
Impression management theory and social psychological research, 23–40.
Sharifi, M.N. (2013, 7 October). ‘10 procent van de jongeren geen baan door Facebook’. NRC. Retrieved from https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/10/07/10-procent-van-de-jongeren-geen-baan-door-facebook-1301350-a171476
Springer, R. (2012). Social Media-Risk Management, Plastic Surgical Nursing, 32(1), 22–24
Stam, L. (2018). Social Media and Recruitment. Lexology. Retrieved from https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7ebe695f-b3dd-4d64-9b91-be8f51c782d2
Slovensky, R., & Ross, W.H. (2012). Should human resource managers use social media to screen job applicants? Managerial and legal issues in the USA, info, 14 (1), 55–69.
Talbot, D., & Boiral, O. (2014). Strategies for Climate change and Impression Management: A Case Study Among Canada’s Large Industrial Emitters. Journal of Business Ethics, 132 (2), 329–346.
Thomas, D.R. (2006). A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative Evaluation Data.
27
Tsai, W., Chi, N., Huang, T., & Hsu, A. (2011). The effects of Applicant Resume Contents on Recruiters Hiring Recommendations: The Mediating Roles of Recruiter Fit Perceptions. Applied psychology, 60 (2), 231–254.
Van Iddekinge, C.H., Lanivich, S.E., Roth, L., & Junco, E. (2013). Social Media for Selection? Validity and Adverse Impact Potential of a Facebook-Based Assessment. Journal of Management, 42 (7), 1811– 1835.
Van Nes, F., Abma, T., Jonsson, H., & Deeg, D. (2010). Language differences in qualitative research: is meaning lost in translation? European journal of ageing, 7 (4), 313–316.
Vinerean, S. (2017). Importance of Strategic Social Media Marketing. Expert Journal of Marketing, 5 (1), 28–35.
Weiss, B., & Feldman, R. S. (2006). Looking good and lying to do it: Deception as an impression management strategy in job interviews. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36 (4), 1070–1086 Waung, M., McAuslan, P., DiMambro, J.M., & Miegoc, N. (2017). Impression Management Use in Resumes and Cover Letters. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32 (6), 727–746.
Young, J. A., Gardner III, W. L., & Gilbert, F. W. (1994). Impression management techniques in marketing channels: a theoretical perspective and research agenda. Journal of Marketing Theory and
28
A
PPENDIX
A:
O
VERVIEW INTERVIEWEES
Interviewee: Teaching course: School: Date interview: Teacher 1 Chemistry, Physics
and Mathematics
Dr. Nassau College Penta
25-10-18
Teacher 2 Physics Dr. Nassau College Norg
29-10-18
Teacher 3 English Dr. Nassau College Penta
27-11-18
Teacher 4 Physics and Chemistry Dr. Nassau College Penta
27-11-18
Teacher 5 Geography and Social Studies
Dr. Nassau College Penta
27-11-18
Teacher 6 Economics Dr. Nassau College Penta
27-11-18
Teacher 7 Biology Dr. Nassau College Penta
27-11-18
Teacher 8 Art Dr. Nassau College
Penta
27-11-18
Teacher 9 Dutch Dr. Nassau College Norg
29-11-18
Teacher 10 French Dr. Nassau College Norg
29-11-18
Teacher 11 Chemistry Dr. Nassau College Norg
29-11-18
Teacher 12 Mathematics Dr. Nassau College Norg
29-11-18
Teacher 13 Geography Dr. Nassau College Norg
29
A
PPENDIX
B:
I
NTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Interviewee: Firm: Function:
Previous experience:
General questions:
1. How long have you been working at a high school? 2. Have you ever changed position within the school? 3. How much FTE do you work?
Social media:
4. How would you define social media?
5. On which social media platforms are you active?
6. How often do you use social media? Can you specify this per platform?
Social media and job perspectives
7. To what extend do you think social media profile adjustment is important before applying for a job?
8. Did you adjust your social media profiles before applying for a job? Why and how?
9. To what extend do you think it is necessary to monitor and manage your social media profile while being employed?
10. Do you monitor and manage your social media profile while having a job? Why and how? 11. Are you aware of the fact that social media can influence your reputation towards
organisations? How do you think that this can impact your reputation?
12. Have you ever experienced work-related disadvantages from the use of social media? What were these disadvantages?
13. Have you experienced work-related advantages from the use of social media? What were these advantages?
30
15. Have you ever presented yourself better to be perceived favourably by others on social media? Why?
16. Do you understand that people would present themselves better to be perceived favourably by others on these? What do you think their reasoning is?
17. To which extent to you think that social media can influence your career? 18. How do you think that social media can influence your career?
