Employee use of public social media: theories, constructs and conceptual frameworks

Public-facing social media platforms, such as Facebook and WeChat, are increasingly being embedded into corporate processes and routines. The use of public social media by employees has aroused widespread interest among scholars in recent years. This study summarises published theories and models and proposes a causal-chain framework for research exploration into employee usage of public social media platforms by systematically analysing the antecedent variables, mediators, moderators, and outcome variables used in 59 quantitative papers. The representative theories include: Social Capital Theory, Job Demands-Resources Model, Boundary Theory, Media Synchronicity Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Self-Determination Theory, and Media Richness Theory. Historically, researchers have studied social media usage behaviours as antecedents, rather than social factors, with many focusing on outcome variables such as job performance and job satisfaction, while the impact of employee social media usage on physical and mental health is less studied. In terms of moderators, variables such as use behaviour, user characteristics and job characteristics receive most attention. With regards to mediators, social capital, job satisfaction, and work conflict are most significant. This study proposes future research directions for this field, including topics relating to platform attributes, social power, organisational culture, and employee health.