The social academic: a social capital approach to academic relationship management on social media

Social media platforms offer scholars an additional channel to strengthen their social capital through networking, sharing content, showing appreciation for the work of others, and sharing information about themselves. The present study explores the relationship between demographic factors, academic factors, the relevance attributed to networking, career aspiration, social media use, and social media efficacy and relationship management on social media through a survey of 1,500 academics working in Germany. The results indicate that personal factors such as the relevance attributed to networking, career aspiration, social media use, and social media efficacy are stronger predictors of relationship management than demographic and academic factors. Furthermore, the results indicate that academics tend to create informative static profiles but do not use the potential of social media for dynamic interaction and exchange.