Effects of support and job demands on social media use and work outcomes

Studies related to the use of social media in the workplace are still somewhat scarce despite their increasing popularity in social media research. This paper aims to investigate how employee perceptions of a workplace related to coworker support, supervisor support, and job-related demands can determine the degree of attachment some employees feel to social media use at work. The study also explores some consequences of social media use at work by analyzing its associations with job satisfaction, job performance, and cognitive absorption. The data was collected through the snowball sampling technique of 170 employees in Thailand and analyzed using partial least squares regression. For the factors predicted to influence social media use at work, the analysis found that coworker support and job demands are positively associated with social media use intensity, while supervisor support is negatively associated with it. The analysis also found a positive association between job satisfaction and job performance and social media use at work. An indirect relationship between social media use and cognitive absorption was also found through the mediating effect of job satisfaction. Overall, the evidence suggests that social media use at work may not necessarily lead to negative job-related outcomes. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.