StrategicSocialMediaUseinPublicRelationsProfessionalsPerceivedSocialMediaImpactLeadershipBehaviorsandWork-LifeConflict.pdf
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International Journal of Strategic Communication
ISSN: 1553-118X (Print) 1553-1198 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/hstc20
Strategic Social Media Use in Public Relations: Professionals’ Perceived Social Media Impact, Leadership Behaviors, and Work-Life Conflict
Hua Jiang, Yi Luo & Owen Kulemeka
To cite this article: Hua Jiang, Yi Luo & Owen Kulemeka (2017) Strategic Social Media Use in Public Relations: Professionals’ Perceived Social Media Impact, Leadership Behaviors, and Work-Life Conflict, International Journal of Strategic Communication, 11:1, 18-41, DOI: 10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842
Published online: 13 Sep 2016.
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Strategic Social Media Use in Public Relations: Professionals’ Perceived Social Media Impact, Leadership Behaviors, and Work-Life Conflict Hua Jianga, Yi Luob, and Owen Kulemekac
aS.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse, New York, USA; bSchool of Communication and Media, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA; cCollege of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
ABSTRACT Using the E-leadership theory as the conceptual framework, the study examined strategic communicators’ perceptions of the impact of social media use on their work, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict. Through a national sample of communication professionals (N = 458), this study revealed the following key findings. The use of YouTube in profes- sionals’ work, social media use in media relations, employee communica- tions, and cause-related marketing/social marketing were significantly, positively associated with participants’ perceptions of the enhancing impact of social media use. Social media use in crisis management and employee communications significantly, positively predicted professionals’ percep- tions of social media’s aggravating impact (e.g., extended work hours, increased workload) on their work. The use of Facebook and YouTube in strategic communication, the use of social media in environmental scan- ning, as well as the positive and negative impact of social media use all significantly and positively predicted communication professionals’ leader- ship behaviors. When the unintended negative effects of social media use happened, professionals perceived a low control over their work and thereby experienced a high level of time-based and strain-based work-life conflict. Finally, public affairs/governmental relations professionals who were frequent users of social media for their work reported a high level of strain-based work-life conflict.
The extant scholarship on strategic communication has developed a multidisciplinary perspective that enables researchers to conceptualize and operationalize their variables of interest from a variety of disciplines such as management, marketing, human resources, public relations, and social media (Hallahan, Holtzhausen, van Ruler, Verčič, & Sriramesh, 2007). Social media have tremendously transformed strategic communication practice (Avolio, Sosik, Kahai, & Baker, 2014; Habibi, Laroche, & Richard, 2014; Yang & Kang, 2015). They have led to profound changes in communication professionals’ life (Boswell & Olson-Buchanan, 2007; Golden, 2013; Wright et al., 2014).
The deliberate use of these social media tools has become an integrate part of strategic commu- nication strategies for organizations to gain better control of their competitive, complex environment and hence advance their goals (Macnamara & Zerfass, 2012). It is thus imperative for strategic communication scholarship (i.e., the “purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission,” see Hallahan et al., 2007, p. 3) to examine how the use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) in communication work and social media use in specific com- munication functions/components (e.g., media relations, employee/internal communications,
CONTACT Yi Luo [email protected] Associate Professor, School of Communication and Media, Montclair State University, Morehead 119, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA. © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 2017, VOL. 11, NO. 1, 18–41 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842
community relations, etc.) affect the work of these strategic communication professionals (Warwick, 2013). For example, the impact could be (1) positive or enhancing (e.g., how have social media potentially improved strategic communication professionals’ ability to do their job?) or (2) negative or aggravating (e.g., how has social media use in strategic communication actually increased job demands and given rise to high work stress?).
Prior management research has pointed out some valuable insights for studying the strategic relationship between social media and leadership behavior (Avolio, 2007; Bass, 2008). For instance, the theory of E-leadership suggests that leaders can adopt advanced communication technologies to strategically influence attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and performance of their target audi- ences (Avolio, Kahai, & Dodge, 2001). In accordance with the theory, when communication professionals actively integrate social media into their daily work, they not only strategically use them as vital resources to achieve organizational goals (Kahai, 2013) but also create an opportunity to advance their leadership behaviors (Kiron, Palmer, Phillips, & Kruschwitz, 2012).
When communication professionals demonstrate some key leadership behaviors (e.g., understand well their job environments, know how to adapt strategies to accomplish organizational goals, inspire other organizational members, achieve excellent team collaborations, etc.), they tend to feel empow- ered, exert an adequate amount of control over their work, and be satisfied with their job performance (Berger & Meng, 2010; Meng & Berger, 2013; Meng, Berger, Gower, & Heyman, 2012). As an unintended consequence of social media management and leadership performance, fully packed work schedules, increasing job responsibilities, and strong career motivations may cause huge job pressure and stress, potentially leading to a high level of conflict between work and non-work (Carlson, Kacmar, Wayne, & Grzywacz, 2006).
The well-being (e.g., how they juggle between work responsibilities and personal life commit- ments) of communication staff remains central to their organizations’ success and relationship cultivation with its strategic internal publics—communication staff (Jiang & Shen, 2013; Wieland, 2011). Previous literature has been equivocal about whether, in the context of work-life conflict, emerging communication technologies have primarily increased employees’ control over work and thereby mitigated their perceived work-life conflict or caused employers to extend working hours and hence increase workload, potentially contributing to, rather than ameliorating employees’ perceived work-life conflict (Golden, 2013, p. 101).
Prior strategic communication scholarship has also insufficiently studied the influence of social media use on communication professionals’ perceived work-life conflict, which may result in adversarial outcomes such as burnout, turnover intentions, and reduced trust, satisfaction, and commitment (Jiang, 2012; Wright et al., 2014). A critical need thus exists to advance our under- standing of how communication professionals’ social media use, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict are linked to one another (Boswell & Olson-Buchanan, 2007; Wright et al., 2014). Such knowledge may help employers to develop realistic expectations and establish family-friendly, supportive policies or initiatives to avoid those negative consequences (Boswell & Olson- Buchanan, 2007; Jiang, 2012), resulting in more engaged and committed workforce to achieve organizational goals and missions.
This study sought to examine communication professionals’ perceptions of the influence of social media use on their work, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict experiences (see Figure 1).
Its contributions to the literature on strategic communication, social media, leadership, and work- life interface are as follows. First, the present study contributes theoretically to strategic commu- nication by integrating the E-leadership framework and social media literature into examining the potential social media impact on both communication professionals’ job performance and their personal well-being in and outside of the workplace. This focus could yield significant findings on how communication professionals can manage social media strategically in their work to advance organizational goals. Second, it draws upon the extant communication leadership scholarship, incorporates in it the E-leadership literature in management studies, and applies them in the context of social media use and professionals’ leadership behaviors. Third, it adds into the current limited
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 19
body of knowledge on communication professionals’ work-life conflict issues and these professionals as an under-investigated yet a critical group of strategic internal stakeholders for any organizations.
Literature review
E-leadership as a theoretical framework: Integrating E-leadership use, its impact, leadership behaviors, and communication professionals’ work-life interface
Given the scant literature in strategic communication, prior management studies provide a theore- tical framework for linking social media use, its impact on strategic communicators’ work, and their leadership behaviors and perceptions of work-life interface (see Avolio, 2007; Bass, 2008). Avolio and Dodge (2000) defined “advanced information technology” (AIT) as “tools, techniques, and knowl- edge that enable multiparty participation in organizational and inter-organizational activities through sophisticated collection, processing, management, retrieval, transmission, and display of data and knowledge” (p. 616). Scholars argue that these new AIT environments create a coevolution between technology and leadership that can be labelled as “E-leadership” (Gurr, 2004). The theory of E-leadership suggests that AIT establishes a social influence process that enables E-leaders to influence their peers’ and followers’ attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and performance (Avolio et al., 2001).
In the social media era, E-leaders can use social media to coordinate geographically dispersed virtual teams within and across organizational units to accomplish complex tasks (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2012; Sutanoto, Tan, Battistini, & Phang, 2011), build online coalitions and communities
The Impact of Social Media Use upon Professionals’ Work (Enhancing): -Improve abilities for job responsibilities -Improve productivity -Allow flexibility in the hours practitioners work -Improve practitioners’ ability to share their ideas with co-workers -Improve professional relationships Use of Social Media Tools in
Strategic Communication -Facebook -Twitter -YouTube
Social Media Use in Strategic Communication Functions -Media relations -Crisis management -Publicity -Employee/Internal communications -Special events -Community relations -Reputation management -Product/Brand communication -Public affairs/Governmental relations -Annual/Quarterly reports -Environmental Scanning -Cause-related marketing/Social marketing -Financial/Investor relations
The Impact of Social Media Use upon Professionals’ Work (Aggravating): -Increase demands that professionals work more hours -Increase workload -Increase stress
Work-Life Conflict: -Time-Based -Strain-Based
Professionals’ Leadership Behaviors: -Self-Dynamics -Team Collaboration -Ethical Orientation -Relationship Building -Strategic Decision- Making -Communication Knowledge Management
R3
R1
R2
R4
R5
R6
H1
H2
H5a & H5b
H4
H7a & H7bH6a &
H6b H3
Figure 1. Proposed conceptual model.
20 H. JIANG ET AL.
(Balkundi & Kilduff, 2006; Kahai, 2013), gain real-time information and knowledge (Avolio et al., 2014), use the information and knowledge to understand an organization’s environments (Jiang, Bazarova, & Hancock, 2013), and communicate a shared vision and cultivate trusting, respectful relationships with an organization’s internal and external strategic stakeholders (Rhue & Sundararajan, 2014; Weisband, 2008).
The impact of social media use on communicators’ professional work As a conceptual framework to guide the present study on strategic communicators’ professional work, the E-leadership theory suggests that social media users’ job performance is influenced by advanced information technology (AIT) as an organizational structure. The structure serves as rules and resources for strategic communicators to plan and complete their tasks (Avolio & Dodge, 2000; Gurr, 2004). In consistency with the systems theory, the E-leadership model helps explain the role of strategic communicators in the input-throughput-output-feedback1 loop in a social media context. From this perspective, E-leadership researchers define social media as the technical enablement of human behaviors in and outside of organizations (Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014).
The social media flow through the technical layers, as part of the input, throughput, output and feedback, underlies and represents the generation of capital in strategic communicators’ job perfor- mance (see Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014, p. 98). In particular, the human capital, that is, skills, knowledge and abilities that communicators obtain through strategic social media use, may result in both enhancing and aggravating outputs to strategic communicators—improved abilities for job responsibilities, improved productivity, flexibility in communicators’ work hours, improved ability to collaborate with co-workers, improved professional relationships, and increased job demands, workload and stress, etc. (Golden, 2013; Kiron et al., 2012; Korzynski, 2013; Weisband, 2008).
Transformed leadership as a result of strategic communicators’ interactions with the technology Using the E-leadership framework, not only is the job performance (outputs) of communicators seen to be influenced by social media use, but communicators’ leadership behaviors may be transformed as a result of their interactions with the technology (Avolio & Dodge, 2000; Gurr, 2004). The social media tactics that strategic communicators use may generate capital2 that advance their leadership behaviors (Deans, 2011). Specifically, learning and engaging drives human, social and symbolic capital genera- tion. Data-driven analysis and decision making creates human and organizational capital. Knowledge generation and dissemination develops human and social capital. Creating new products or solving problems generates organizational capital (Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014, p. 100).
All these coincide with the key dimensions of strategic communicators’ leadership behaviors— communicators in charge of organizational social media management can use social media to identify opportunities and challenges in internal and external environments, develop and implement communication strategies accordingly, inspire other organizational members with a shared vision consistent with core organizational values, execute communication strategies and achieve excellent communication management through team collaboration, resolve any ethical and legal dilemmas and conflicts, cultivate mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its strategic stakeholders, transform their knowledge about complex environments and internal processes and structures into effective advocacy and empowerment in strategic decision making, apply and convert
1Through their strategic use of social media, strategic communicators receive information, energy or matter from the environment (input), analyze the information, energy or matter and respond to the input (throughput), release information, energy or matter into the environment to restore equilibrium or solve problems (output), and seek response from the environment to determine whether an equilibrium has been accomplished or a problem is solved (feedback).
2Economic Capital: Financial, physical and manufactured capital resources. Social Capital: The ability of a strategic communicator or an organization to capitalize on social connections. Symbolic Capital: The amount of honor or prestige possessed within a given social structure. Human Capital: Skills, knowledge and abilities that a strategic communicator can use to generate income or other useful outputs. Organizational Capital: Institutionalized knowledge stored in databases, routines, patents, manuals and structures (see Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014, p. 98).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 21
knowledge and expertise acquired through social media into effective communication strategies and tactics (Berger & Meng, 2010; Meng & Berger, 2013; Meng et al., 2012).
The interface between professional and personal life Another dimension of the E-leadership theory pertinent to the present study lies in the profes- sional and personal divide caused by strategic communicators’ social media use and E-leadership behaviors (Norris & Porter, 2011; Stock, Bauer, & Bieling, 2014). People who understand the correct mix of professional and personal information on social media tend to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between their role as strategic communicators for their employers and their role in personal lives (Hagel, Brown, & Davison, 2009, p. 2). Social media use that humanizes communication leaders whose professional role may otherwise seem inaccessible can help them develop desirable professional networks, increase the trust crucial to the collaborative nature of any strategic communication and leadership jobs, and enhance their job performance and further enrich their personal lives, resulting in their more balanced distribution of time between work and life and less spillover of stress from work to life (Rosenbloom, 2008). Nevertheless, the opposite of what communicators expect can happen if they fail to use social media and perform their E-leadership behaviors strategically and adequately.
Major components of the strategic communication function
A key functional component of strategic communication includes public relations (Hallahan et al., 2007, p. 6). Wilcox and Cameron (2012) summarized 13 key components or functions of public relations. Because of its comprehensive nature in describing both internal and external strategic functions of communication, this study uses Wilcox and Cameron’s identification as a framework for specific strategic communication functions.
These key functions include: (1) media relations (e.g., dealing with journalists), (2) publicity (e.g., distributing information about a company’s new products), (3) employee/internal communications (e.g., communicating with employees), (4) community relations (e.g., building a supportive environ- ment with a community), (5) public/governmental affairs (e.g., managing communication with regulatory agencies), (6) environmental scanning (e.g., scanning external environment and monitor- ing issues), (7) financial relations (e.g., building relationships with investors), (8) reputation manage- ment (e.g., maintaining and advancing an organization’s reputation in the industry and among its internal and external strategic stakeholders), (9) crisis management (e.g., managing communication during crisis), (10) special events (e.g., planning an event to launch a new product or generate interest for a company), (11) cause-related/social marketing (e.g., managing communication to promote the greater social good), (12) product/brand communication (e.g., dealing with promoting and selling a product), and (13) annual/quarterly report (e.g., preparing annual report to share- holders). Few studies in strategic communication have probed the role of social media use (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) in all the above key strategic communication functions. The present study thus represents a pioneering direction to systematically examine how social media use has affected the core components of the strategic communication function.
Impact of social media use on strategic communicators’ work
The unique characteristics and infinite potential of social media have made it a center stage in strategic communication scholarship and practice (Taylor & Kent, 2010; Warwick, 2013). Social media refer to a group of Web 2.0-based applications using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques that enable the creation and exchange of user generated content (Wright & Hinson, 2009). There is a scarcity of strategic communication research examining the effects of social media use in the workplace (Cao, Vogel, Guo, Liu, & Gu, 2012). Little is known about how social media use affects the completion of communication professionals’ work (Tsay, Dabbish, & Herbsleb, 2012).
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As indicated in the connectivism theory (i.e., a learning theory for social media use in both work and life), individuals in a knowledge society constantly acquire knowledge through active social media use, which is never a process of “progressive knowledge acquisition” but one of “preservation of connections” (Munene & Nyaribo, 2013, p. 143). In strategic communication industry, continued learning is thus centered on professionals’ ability to stay connected with specialized information sets and digital communities that are closely related to their professional work. Consequently, their thoughts and ideas can be constantly shared with networks in and outside of their organizations.
Existing research does suggest some positive or enhancing impact of social media use on how individuals accomplish their work. As social media transform traditional work into technologically mediated one, employees may gain flexibility in working hours and locations (e.g., telecommuting work) (Golden & Geisler, 2007). Castilla (2005) found that strengthened professional relationships resulted from employees’ use of social networking sites had a positive impact on employees’ performance. In particular, the ability of social media for content exchange and creation significantly fosters collaboration among organizational members, contributing to better job outcomes, such as job productivity and efficiency (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Based on a survey of 1,799 employees in Greek insurance industry, Leftheriotis and Giannakos (2014) concluded that participants’ higher frequency of using work-related social media was posi- tively related to better job performance. The authors are thus applying the existing research on the effects of digital technology use in the workplace to the strategic communication profession. Particularly, the authors seek to examine the enhancing impact of social media use as follows: communication professionals’ enhanced ability to get their job done, improved productivity, increased job flexibility and the ability to share ideas with others, and better relationships that they cultivate with their professional networks.
Despite the aforementioned enhancing impact, adopting digital technologies at work may lead to extra job demands for employees and deprive them of resources needed for other responsibilities than their work. Based on a scarcity and boundary-spanning framework, role conflict theorists (e.g., Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000) assumed that individuals, when participating in work and life roles, inevitably experience conflict and stress as the total amount of available time and consumable human energy is fixed. For example, increased availability for work pressures employees to respond immediately to work-related issues even during off-work hours (Golden, 2013). As a result, employ- ees using social media for work more frequently than others tend to experience extended working hours, increased workload, and additional job stress (Cao et al., 2012). We identify these negative effects as aggravating impact of social media use.
Applying the existing research on the positive and negative effects of social media use to the context of communication professionals’ work, this study proposes the following research questions to explore how the enhancing and aggravating effects of social media use relate to strategic communication work and its core functions:
RQ1: How is use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) related to the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work?
RQ2: How is social media use in strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations, employee/internal communications, community relations, etc.) related to the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work?
Communication leadership
Communication leadership scholarship mainly emerged from leadership research in business man- agement (Berger & Meng, 2010; Meng & Berger, 2013; Meng et al., 2012). It focuses on identifying
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 23
leadership dimensions and probing the impact of leadership on effective communication practices. Communication leadership is defined as a dynamic process involving a set of skills, behaviors, and personal attributes that enable effective communication practices for helping achieve organizational goals (Meng & Berger, 2013, p. 143). This study focuses specifically on linking professionals’ behavior of social media use with work efficiency and effectiveness in communication (aka, com- munication leadership behaviors) as well as professionals’ work-life conflict experiences.
Meng, Berger, and their colleagues (e.g., Meng, 2010, 2012; Meng et al., 2012) are the pioneering communication scholars who have identified and tested across cultures excellent leadership beha- vioral dimensions associated with effective communication practices. In particular, Meng and Berger (2013) proposed and tested six excellent leadership behavioral dimensions in strategic communica- tion, including self-dynamics, team collaboration, ethical orientation, relationship building, strategic decision-making, and communication knowledge management.
Self-dynamics involves two sub-dimensions: (1) self-insight (i.e., leaders’ self-awareness of their strengths and weaknesses and their good understanding of the environment to apply strategies for achieving organizational goals) and (2) shared vision (i.e., motivating and inspiring followers with the shared organizational vision in order to make things happen). Team collaboration reflects how leaders foster collaboration within and across organizational units in pursuing excellence in com- munication management. Ethical orientation refers to how leaders follow professional standards and values to resolve legal and ethical problems. Relationship building indicates the degree to which leaders perceive the importance of creating network resources and cultivating quality relationships. Strategic decision making demonstrates how leaders can enact on their advisory role and participate in strategic decision making by weighing in their knowledge on external environment and internal structures, processes, and practices. Finally, communication knowledge management indicates how leaders apply their communication knowledge and expertise to develop effective strategies and tactics.
Communication leadership scholars (e.g., Meng & Berger, 2013; McKie & Willis, 2015) have called for more research that specifically addresses the relationship between leadership behavioral dimensions and effective communication management. Given the significant influence of social media on strategic communication practices, this study explores how the above-mentioned six excellent public relations leadership behavioral dimensions relate to social media use in profes- sionals’ communication practices.
Linking excellent leadership behaviors to social media use Prior studies have yielded empirical evidence that supports a positive relationship between social media use and professionals’ leadership behaviors. Based on data collected from nearly 3,500 business executives around the world, Kiron et al. (2012) concluded that strategic social media use is valuable for organizational management to provide “strategic insight and strategic execution” (p. 57). Such instrumental value of social media use directly connects with the two sub-dimensions (i.e., self-insight and shared vision) of the self-dynamic leadership behavioral dimension identified by Meng and Berger (2013). Other existing research on social media and communication leadership also showed support for linking strategic social media management to leadership behaviors. For instance, Porter et al. (2007) found that communication managers who used blogs frequently received a high rating by their followers on their communication expertise and knowledge. A great challenge for communication executives in DiStaso et al.’s (2011) study was how to use social media to engage strategic stakeholders for building quality relationships. Sweetser and Kelleher’s (2011) study also found that communication leaders who perceived the value of social media use were more influential in their professional networks.
Previous studies on the link between social media and the key strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations, fund-raising, publicity, public affairs, etc.) also demonstrated a positive relationship between these two variables. For example, communication scholars found that organi- zations use various social media tools (e.g., social networking sites, video sharing, microblogging,
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etc.) for marketing communications (Estanyol, 2012), building relationships with key stakeholders (Cho, Schweickart, & Haase, 2014), and fund-raising (Carim & Warwick, 2013). Recent research (Agostino, 2013; Hong, 2013) on governmental relations demonstrated how social media were valuable for communication practitioners to seek citizens’ feedback and boost public trust. Use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) was effective at building relationships with journalists for both for- and nonprofit organizations (Bajkiewicz, Kraus, & Hong, 2011). Many studies (e.g., van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2013) have strongly suggested that communication professionals utilize social media to disseminate critical information for their clients and address the concerns during crises.
Research in business management and organizational behavior has also provided ample evidence of how the enhancing impact of social media use (e.g., increased transparency, increased productiv- ity, etc.) has a positive association with leadership behaviors. For instance, the greater transparency afforded by social media use enables leaders to share ideas with team members, fellow leaders, and stakeholders, which results in more ethical leadership behaviors and better relationships with internal and external constituencies (Weisband, 2008). Moreover, Kiron et al. (2012) suggested that adopting social media allows industry leaders to exchange ideas with relevant stakeholders to a greater extent, generating more creative solutions for problems, and most importantly allows them to acquire strategic insights for creating shared visions and making strategic decisions. Korzynski’s (2013) study also discovered that enhanced professional connections through social networks help leaders to foster collaborations within and across their organizations.
Increased communication transparency via social networks was conducive for leaders to engage in ethical behaviors. Conversely, the consequential aggravating effects (e.g., rising work demands, prolonged working hours, increased work stress, etc.) of social media use may constrain leaders’ behaviors, such as conducting an accurate situation analysis during decision making (e.g., Golden, 2013). This study thus predicts a negative relationship between the aggravating impact of social media use upon communication leadership behaviors.
H1: Use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) is positively related to communication professionals’ leadership behaviors.
H2: Social media use in strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations, employee/internal communications, community relations, etc.) is positively related to communication profes- sionals’ leadership behaviors.
H3: The enhancing impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is posi- tively related to their leadership behaviors.
H4: The aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is negatively related to their leadership behaviors.
Work-life conflict
Work-life conflict has become a strategic issue in business management and psychology in recent years (Allen et al., 2012; Glavin & Schieman, 2012). This increased scholarly attention is largely attributed to its profound impact on some core organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction and turnover (Beham, Prag, & Drobnic, 2012), job performance (Lyness & Judiesch, 2008), organizational commitment (Wang & Walumbwa, 2007), and work stress and depression (Cortese, Colombo, & Ghislieri, 2010). Scholarly attention in strategic com- munication research has been inadequate. For example, until recently Aldoory, Jiang, Toth, and Sha (2008) compared the impact of work-life conflict between male and female
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 25
communication professionals. Jiang (2012) found that time-based work-life conflict signifi- cantly predicted employees’ perception of employee-organization relationships. Through a national sample of 820 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) members, Jiang and Shen (2013) found that a more family-supportive organizational work environment ameliorated communication professionals’ perceived work-life conflict. Work-life conflict refers to the incompatibility between fulfilling work duties and enacting on an individual’s other role demands in non-work or personal life sphere (Wadsworth & Owens, 2007). The present study focuses on two major types of work-life conflict: time-based and strain-based (McMillan, Morris, & Atchley, 2011).
Time-based work-life conflict Viewed as the most prevalent form of conflict, time-based work-life conflict emerges when the amount of time enacting on work role responsibilities reduces the time needed to perform one’s non-work responsibilities (Bohle, Willaby, Quinlan, & McNamara, 2011). This conflict essentially consists of schedule conflict and extended work time that usually result in role overload (Brauchli, Bauer, & Hammig, 2011). Time-based work-life conflict is rooted in the role conflict theory, which argues that human energy and time is limited (Barnett & Gareis, 2006). When an individual needs to enact on multiple roles, the roles compete for his or her scarce time and energy. Juggling between multiple roles decreases the total amount of quality time devoted to both work and personal life, thus triggering a conflict (McMillan et al., 2011).
Strain-based work-life conflict This type of work-life conflict appears when work-role related stress makes it hard for an individual to fulfill effectively in his or her life role (McMillan & Morris, 2012). Such conflict is based on the assumption that stress, fatigue, or irritability resulted from an individual’s work demands can sig- nificantly undermine other required activities in non-work domains (McNamara, Bohle, & Quinlan, 2011). Strain-based conflict also reflects the person-environment (P-E) fit theory. A fit is reached when an employee’s knowledge and competence aligns with the expectations and responsibilities in the workplace (McMillan et al., 2011). A mismatch between these expectations and an individual’s skills generates incompatibility or a misfit (Pleck, Staines, & Lang, 1980). As a result, conflict arises when work requirements compete with life demands, contributing to a high level of strain.
Linking social media impact to work-life conflict As explained in the earlier section, a pervasive adoption of social media in organizations blurs the boundaries between work and personal life (Wieland, 2011). Adopting social media in the workplace may create flexibility to work at a convenient location and time, which in return may mitigate the conflict between work and non-work (Golden, 2013). Improved work productivity resulted from social media use (Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014) could reward employees with additional time and energy to fulfill their family responsibilities. However, technologically mediated work may also create unintended negative outcomes including extended working hours, increased workload, and more stress (Golden & Geisler, 2007). Based on an online survey of 168 employees from more than 30 companies in a Midwestern city, Wright et al. (2014) found that increases in perceived enhancing impact of social media use for work-related tasks significantly predicted decreases in perceptions of work-life conflict, but increases in perceived aggravating impact of social media use for work-related tasks were significantly associated with increases in perceptions of work-life conflict (pp. 507–514). Based on the above reviewed literature, this study proposes the following research questions and hypotheses:
R3: How is use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and social media use in strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations, employee/internal communica- tions, community relations, etc.) related to time-based and strain-based work-life conflict?
26 H. JIANG ET AL.
H5a: The enhancing impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is negatively related to their perceived time-based work-life conflict.
H5b: The enhancing impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is negatively related to their perceived strain-based work-life conflict.
H6a: The aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is positively related to their perceived time-based work-life conflict.
H6b: The aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is positively related to their perceived strain-based work-life conflict.
Linking excellent leadership behaviors to work-life conflict Top executives or senior managers usually encounter very demanding job expectations (e.g., time pressures, stressful work hours). These executives’ stringent work responsibilities may collide with their non-work requirements (Shelton, Danes, & Eisenman, 2008). Such a conflict between profes- sional and personal responsibilities oftentimes provokes feelings of stress, fatigue, and exhaustion (McCarthy, Darcy, & Grady, 2010; Stock et al., 2014). Applying this line of research in the context of communication leadership, this study proposes the following hypotheses linking communication professionals’ leadership behaviors with time-based and strain-based work-life conflict:
H7a: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors are positively related to their perceived time-based work-life conflict.
H7b: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors are positively related to their perceived strain-based work-life conflict.
Method
Data collection
Via SurveyMonkey, the authors conducted an online survey of communication professionals at U.S.- based corporations, nonprofit associations, government and military organizations, professional services companies, educational institutions, among a variety of other organizations. Using some primary databases,3 the authors compiled a list of solicited organizations. Economic development websites and chambers of commerce were also used to identify the largest employers in the 50 largest U.S. cities. To do so, the authors attempted to achieve the best representative sample of organizations as they could.
As a consequence, the authors enlisted a total of 4,700 organizations. They visited the communica- tion unit and leadership Websites of these organizations and looked for both individuals with job titles such as vice president of communications, senior vice president of corporate communications, com- munication managers, as well as communication professionals who did not have a managerial or executive title but evidently (in their job descriptions or reports) played a managerial or leadership role
3For this project, the researchers used the following 9 databases: (1) The Fortune 500 list of large corporations, (2) INC Magazine’s list of the fastest growing private companies, (3) Deloitte Fast 500 list of the fastest growing technology companies, (4) CharityNavigator.com’s directory of large charities, (5) Guidestar.org list of the largest nonprofit organizations, (6) US News & World Report’s list of major universities and colleges, (7) Becker Hospital Review’s list of large hospitals, (8) American School & University magazine’s list of the largest school systems, and (9) Washington Technology Magazine’s list of the top companies that do business with the federal government.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 27
in strategic communication and social media management. To build the project’s contact database, the authors copied potential participants’ emails from the websites. When some participants’ emails were not readily available, the authors utilized Lexis Nexis and searched World Wide Web (e.g., emails are sometimes embedded in press releases, annual reports, blogs, etc.). A total of 3,889 emails were identified. The authors and their research assistants sent solicitation emails between October, 2013 and March, 2014. Several rounds of follow-up emails were later sent in hope to increase participation. The authors conducted data analyses based on 458 completed survey responses.
Participant profile4
Participants on average aged 44 (SD = 10.10). Female professionals made up the majority of the sample (n = 245, 54.1%). A large portion of the sampled participants was well educated, reporting to have either a Bachelor’s degree (n = 203, 44.8%) or a Master’s degree (n = 180, 39.7%). In terms of salary level, most of the participants (n = 298) earned an annual salary of more than $70,000 (n = 41, 9.1% for $70,001–80,000; n = 30, 6.7% for $80,001–90,000; n = 38, 8.4% for $90,001–100,000; n = 189, 42.0% for $100,001 plus). Many participants had more than 10 years of professional experience in strategic communication (n10-15 years = 97, 21.4%; nmore than 15 years = 215, 47.5%). The authors also achieved a relatively representative sample of participants who worked for employ- ers of various sizes.5
Measures
All the scale items used an 11-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (“never” or “strongly disagree”) to 11 (“always” or “strongly agree”). See Table 2 for the full item statements used in the study (N, Mean, and SD).
Social media use Participants were asked to rate to what extent (“1” = “never” to “11” = “always”) they had been using different social media tools in their public relations-related work and the degree to which they had been using social media in performing different functions of public relations. Each item read as “Please check the number that best describes your use of social media in your public relations-related work.”
Social media impact upon communication professionals’ work: Enhancing vs. aggravating To measure participants’ perceptions of the impact that social media use exerted upon their work, the authors adapted eight scale items used in previous research6 (see Cao et al., 2012; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014) (Cronbach’s α for the enhancing impact = .80; Cronbach’s α for the aggravating impact = .88). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal axis factoring and varimax rotation generated two factors with eigenvalue greater than 1. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) further tested the two-factor structure of the measure.
Time-based and strain-based work-life conflict Six items (see Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000) were adopted to measure time-based (Cronbach’s α = .96) and strain-based (Cronbach’s α = .88) work-life conflict. Both EFA and CFA verified the construct validity results that Carlson et al. (2000) reported.
4See Table 1 for the complete participant profile. 5(nfewer than 100 employees = 68, 15.1%; n100-499 employees = 72, 16.0%; n500-999 employees = 51, 11.3%; n1,000–2,499 employees = 50, 11.1%; n2,500–4,999 employees = 58, 12.9%; n5,000–9,999 employees = 43, 9.5%; n10,000–24,999 employees = 51, 11.3%; n25,000–49,999 employees = 23, 5.1%; n50,000 or more employees = 22, 4.9%).
6The items were also used in PRSA’s Work, Life, and Gender (WLG) Committee’s PRSA membership survey.
28 H. JIANG ET AL.
Table 1. Participant Profile for the Study (N = 458).
Sample Characteristics Valid N of Sample Valid % of Sample
Gender 453 100.0% Male 200 44.2% Female 245 54.1% I prefer not to answer 8 1.8%
Education 453 100.0% Some college, but no degree 4 .9% Bachelor’s degree 203 44.8% Some graduate work 44 9.7% Master’s degree 180 39.7% Doctorate (Ph.D.) 13 2.9% Other 9 2.0%
College major 449 100.0% Public relations 35 7.8% Marketing 15 3.3% Journalism 126 28.1% Advertising 3 .7% Communication 103 22.9% English 40 8.9% Other 127 28.3%
Hispanic/Latino/Spanish origin 445 100.0% No. I am NOT of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. 426 95.7% Yes, Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano. 11 2.5% Yes, Puerto Rican. 2 .4% Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin 6 1.3%
Race 447 100.0% White 409 91.5% Black, African American, or Negro 24 5.4% Chinese 2 .4% Filipino 4 .9% Other 8 1.8%
Salary level 450 100.0% $20,001–30,000 1 .2% $30,001–40,000 7 1.6% $40,001–50,000 29 6.4% $50,001–60,000 40 8.9% $60,001–70,000 35 7.8% $70,001–80,000 41 9.1% $80,001–90,000 30 6.7% $90,001–100,000 38 8.4% $100,001 plus 189 42.0% Prefer not to answer 40 8.9%
Professional experiences 453 100.0% Less than 3 years 24 5.3% 3–5 Years 30 6.6% 5–10 Years 78 17.2% 10–15 Years 97 21.4% More than 15 Years 215 47.5% Other 9 2.0%
Organizational type 453 100.0% Private Corporation 47 10.4% Public Corporation 60 13.2% Nonprofit Organization/Association 93 20.5% Government Organization/military 54 11.9% Professional services 6 1.3% Educational institution 182 40.2% Other 11 2.4%
Organizational size (number of employees) 451 100.0% Fewer than 100 68 15.1% 100–499 72 16.0% 500–999 51 11.3% 1,000–2,499 50 11.1% 2,500–4,999 58 12.9% 5,000–9,999 43 9.5%
(Continued )
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 29
Communication leadership behaviors The authors revised 26 scale items from Meng and Berger (2013) to measure professionals’ leader- ship behaviors (Cronbach’s αself-dynamics = .92; Cronbach’s αteam collaboration = .88; Cronbach’s αethical orientation = .67; Cronbach’s αrelationship building = .78; Cronbach’s αstrategic decision-making capability = .89; Cronbach’s αcommunication knowledge management = .91). Results of EFA and CFA analyses indicated a second-order factor structure of the construct, which is consistent with the construct validity information that Meng and Berger (2013) presented.
Analysis
To examine the research questions and test the hypotheses, the authors conducted hierarchical linear regression analyses.7 To determine the effect size of a standardized coefficient, Keith’s (2006) criteria were adopted. The cut-offs for negligible, small but meaningful, moderate, and large effects are standardized coefficients (1) less than .05, (2) .05 to .10, (3) .10 to .25, and (4) above .25, respectively.
Results
Preliminary data analysis
As shown in Table 2, the participants did extensively use three key social media tools in their strategic communication work: (1) Twitter (M = 9.53, SD = 2.42), (2) Facebook (M = 9.36, SD = 2.63), and (3) YouTube (M = 7.95, SD = 2.75). Top social media use in various strategic communication functions included (1) publicity (i.e., information dissemination) (M = 9.96, SD = 2.05); (2) special events (M = 9.20, SD = 2.69); (3) product/brand communication (M = 8.97, SD = 2.90); (4) community relations (M = 8.71, SD = 2.95); (5) media relations (M = 8.59, SD = 2.68); (6) reputation management (M = 8.55, SD = 2.87); and (7) crisis management (M = 7.67, SD = 3.34). Moreover, statistically significant correlations between the observed variables ranged from .10 (p < .05) to .61 (p < .01) (see Table 3).
R1 to R2: The enhancing vs. aggravating impact of social media use
Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the influence of using social media tools and social media use in various strategic communication functions on the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work. The results
Table 1. (Continued).
Sample Characteristics Valid N of Sample Valid % of Sample
10,000–24,999 51 11.3% 25,000–49,999 23 5.1% 50,000 or more 22 4.9% Don’t know/not sure 13 2.9%
Total number of comm. management staff 452 100.0% Fewer than 5 169 37.4% 5–9 91 20.1% 10–19 59 13.1% 20–49 50 11.1% 50–99 40 8.8% 100 or more 25 5.5% Don’t know/not sure 18 4.0%
7When hierarchical regression analyses were conducted, the authors controlled the following demographic variables (see Table 1): Age, gender, educational background, college major, Hispanic, Latio and Spanish origin, race, salary level, professional experience, organization type, total number of employees, total number of communication management staff, and total number of subordinates. However, the impact of these variables was not reported in the main text, for the sake of brevity.
30 H. JIANG ET AL.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics (Numbers, Means and Standard Deviations) of the Full Item Statements in the Present Study (N = 458).
The Item Statements Mean SD Valid N
Use of Social Media Tools in Strategic Communication The use of Facebook in your strategic communication work 9.36 2.63 458 The use of Twitter in your strategic communication work 9.53 2.42 455 The use of YouTube in your strategic communication work 7.95 2.75 457 Social Media Use in Strategic Communication Functions The use of social media in media relations 8.59 2.68 455 The use of social media in crisis management 7.67 3.34 454 The use of social media in publicity (i.e., information dissemination)
9.96 2.05 454
The use of social media in employee/internal communications 5.59 3.46 456 The use of social media in special events 9.20 2.69 456 The use of social media in community relations 8.71 2.95 451 The use of social media in reputation management 8.55 2.87 456 The use of social media in product/brand communication 8.97 2.90 458 The use of social media in public affairs/governmental relations 6.12 3.51 456 The use of social media in annual/quarterly reports 3.78 3.48 453 The use of social media in environmental scanning (i.e., monitoring issues) 6.54 3.97 455 The use of social media in cause-related marketing/social marketing 6.49 3.80 455 The use of social media in financial/investor relations 2.39 2.62 451 The Impact of Social Media Use upon Professionals’ Work (Enhancing) The use of social media improved your ability to do your job? 8.47 2.49 456 The use of social media improved your productivity at your job? 7.08 2.88 457 The use of social media allowed you more flexibility in the hours you work? 3.57 2.99 457 The use of social media improved your ability to share your ideas with co-workers? 6.17 3.25 454 The use of social media improved your professional relationships? 7.05 2.97 456 The Impact of Social Media Use upon Professionals’ Work (Aggravating) The use of social media increased demands that you work more hours? 7.73 2.95 455 The use of social media increased your workload (on the job)? 8.20 2.67 457 The use of social media increased stress in your job? 6.64 3.06 456 Professionals’ Leadership Behaviors Self-Insight I am engaged in strategic decision-making. 9.44 1.80 458 I am aware of applying diverse strategies depending on different situations. 9.86 1.39 458 I am proactive (e.g., I am a risk-taker, self-starter, and like taking initiative). 9.87 1.44 457 I act as a change agent in the organization. 9.29 1.86 456 Shared Vision I enlist other communication professionals in a shared vision. 9.57 1.63 456 I provide a vision of potential changes and developments in areas affecting the organization. 9.37 1.66 457 I provide organizational leaders with a clear vision about public relations values and role. 9.47 1.62 458 I provide organizational leaders with a clear vision of how public relations goals are congruent with organizational goals.
9.48 1.69 455
Team Collaboration I collaborate with members in other divisions of the organization to define PR strategies and programs. 9.70 1.62 458 I develop a proactive and professional communication team. 9.56 1.90 458 I facilitate positive interdependence among team members. 9.59 1.83 457 I bring diverse groups together to collaboratively solve problems. 9.26 1.90 456 Ethical Orientation I highly respect the core values of PR as professional standards (e.g., advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness).
10.46 1.17 453
I am capable of acting promptly to correct erroneous communications of team members and other coworkers.
10.38 1.10 454
I understand ethical differences which grow out of diverse cultures. 10.09 1.33 453 Relationship Building I regularly brief members of the organization about public relations programs and results. 9.36 1.92 457 I am capable of cultivating relationships with key external publics. 10.21 1.18 456 I am capable of fostering trust and credibility with media representatives. 10.41 .99 456 I am capable of understanding the needs of key publics. 10.30 .98 451 Strategic Decision Making I am proactive in the organization’s internal decision-making processes. 9.33 1.86 453 I have knowledge of decision-making processes, practices and structures in the organization. 9.62 1.70 453
(Continued )
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 31
indicated that the use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube explained 20% of the variance in the enhancing impact of social media use [(F change (3, 317) = 27.78, p < .001, ΔR2 = .20)]. The linear combination of the 13 key strategic communication functions in which social media tools were used jointly explained 18% of the variance in the enhancing impact of social media use, after the influence of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube was controlled for [(F change (13, 304) = 7.47, p < .001, ΔR2 = .18)]. The use of YouTube (t = 2.54, p < .01, β = .13) in strategic communication, social media use in media relations (t = 4.86, p < .001, β = .28), employee/ internal communications (t = 2.83, p < .01, β = .14), and cause-related marketing/social market- ing (t = 1.86, p < .05, β = .11) were identified as significant positive predictors of the enhancing impact of social media use in strategic communication.
Moreover, the use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in strategic communication explained 7% of the variance in the aggravating impact of social media use [(F change (3, 317) = 8.30, p < .001,ΔR2 = .07)]. The linear combination of strategic communication functions in which social media tools were used jointly explained an additional 7% of the variance in the dependent variable, after the influence of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use was controlled for [(F change (13, 304) = 1.88, p < .05, ΔR2 = .07)]. The use of Twitter (t = 1.67, p < .05, β = .12) in strategic communication, the use of social media in crisis management (t = 2.28, p < .05, β = .14) and employee/internal communications (t = 2.10, p < .05, β = .13) were statistically significant predictors of the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication.
H1 to H4: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors
Likewise, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine how social media use in strategic communication influenced professionals’ leadership behaviors. The linear combination of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use explained 13% of the variance in professionals’ leadership behaviors [(F change (3, 317) = 18.61, p < .001, ΔR2 = .13)]. The linear combination of the 13 key strategic communication functions in which social media were used jointly explained an additional 7% of the variance in professionals’ leadership behaviors after the influence of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use was controlled for [(F change (13, 304) = 2.56, p = .001, ΔR2 = .07)].
After controlling for the use of three key social media tools and social media use in the 13 functions, the enhancing impact of social media use in strategic communication accounted for another 2% of the
Table 2. (Continued).
The Item Statements Mean SD Valid N
I am capable of spanning internal/external boundaries and interpreting information, from publics, for organizational decision makers.
9.91 1.37 453
I am included in strategic decision-making groups in the organization. 9.09 2.17 450 Communication Knowledge Management I use research to develop appropriate strategies, messages, and activities. 9.04 1.98 455 I convert knowledge about publics and issues into effective and representative advocacy of these publics and issues with decision makers.
9.04 1.83 454
I use research to help solve communication problems. 9.01 2.01 454 Time-Based Work-Life Conflict My work keeps me from my non-work activities more than I would like. 7.15 3.09 458 The time I must devote to my job keeps me from participating equally in my non-work responsibilities and activities.
6.94 3.15 458
I have to miss non-work activities due to the amount of time I must spend on work responsibilities. 6.58 3.19 458 Strain-Based Work-Life Conflict When I get off work, I am often too frazzled to participate in non-work activities/responsibilities. 5.33 3.26 458 I am often so emotionally drained when I get off work that it prevents me from contributing to my non- work responsibilities.
5.30 3.32 457
Due to all the pressures at work, sometimes when I get off work I am too stressed to do the things I enjoy. 5.60 3.37 457
32 H. JIANG ET AL.
Ta bl e 3.
Co rr el at io n M at rix
of M ea su re d Va ria bl es
(N = 45 8) .
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
11 12
13 14
15 16
17 18
19 20
21
1 1. 00
2 .5 1* *
1. 00
3 .3 7* *
.3 7* *
1. 00
4 .2 1* *
.4 2* *
.2 8* *
1. 00
5 .1 8* *
.2 8* *
.3 0* *
.3 2* *
1. 00
6 .3 4* *
.3 8* *
.2 7* *
.4 6* *
.2 5* *
1. 00
7 .1 5* *
.1 4* *
.2 5* *
.2 7* *
.2 6* *
.1 8* *
1. 00
8 .3 5* *
.3 1* *
.2 5* *
.2 9* *
.1 9* *
.5 2* *
.2 2* *
1. 00
9 .3 3* *
.2 7* *
.2 8* *
.2 3* *
.1 8* *
.4 2* *
.1 9* *
.5 5* *
1. 00
10 .3 8* *
.3 2* *
.2 8* *
.3 6* *
.3 7* *
.4 5* *
.2 7* *
.4 5* *
.3 6* *
1. 00
11 .3 6* *
.3 3* *
.2 5* *
.2 5* *
.1 8* *
.4 2* *
.1 7* *
.3 3* *
.2 3* *
.5 6* *
1. 00
12 .1 0*
.1 4* *
.1 2*
.3 0* *
.2 0* *
.1 9* *
.1 7* *
.1 9* *
.3 1* *
.2 9* *
.1 3* *
1. 00
13 .1 2* *
.0 9
.1 1*
.1 3* *
.0 8
.0 8
.0 8
.0 9
.1 8* *
.2 0* *
.0 9
.2 4* *
1. 00
14 .0 6
.2 2* *
.2 0* *
.2 0* *
.3 0* *
.2 1* *
.1 5* *
.1 4* *
.1 6* *
.3 0* *
.2 0* *
.2 3* *
.2 5* *
1. 00
15 .2 7* *
.2 2* *
.2 2* *
.2 5* *
.2 0* *
.2 2* *
.1 1*
.2 9* *
.3 5* *
.4 2* *
.2 8* *
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.2 7* *
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1. 00
16 .0 5
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.1 0*
.0 7
.0 3
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.0 0
.0 4
.1 1*
.1 2* *
.1 4* *
.3 4* *
.1 7* *
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1. 00
17 .2 9* *
.3 5* *
.3 1* *
.4 0* *
.3 0* *
.2 7* *
.3 2* *
.2 9* *
.3 1* *
.3 7* *
.2 5* *
.2 7* *
.1 8* *
.1 9* *
.3 4* *
.1 0*
1. 00
18 .1 8* *
.2 2* *
.1 6* *
.1 3* *
.2 0* *
.1 4* *
.1 6* *
.0 9
.1 1*
.1 6* *
.1 8* *
.0 4
.0 2
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.0 9
.1 1*
.1 8* *
1. 00
19 .2 9* *
.1 9* *
.3 2* *
.2 5* *
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.1 8* *
.1 9* *
.1 7* *
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.2 3* *
.1 3* *
.2 0* *
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.2 1* *
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1. 00
20 − .0 2
− .0 4
.0 4
.0 4
.0 7
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− .0 2
− .0 3
− .0 2
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− .0 5
− .0 4
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− .0 3
− .0 4
− .0 5
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.0 9
1. 00
21 − .0 4
− .0 5
.0 2
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.0 2
− .0 4
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− .0 7
− .0 4
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− .0 2
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− .0 2
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− .0 0
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− .1 1*
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− .0 2
.6 1* *
1. 00
N ot e. Co
rr el at io n is si gn
ifi ca nt
at *p
< .0 5 an d ** p < .0 1 (2 -t ai le d) .
1 = Fa ce bo
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= Tw
itt er ; 3 = Yo uT ub
e; 4 = M ed ia
Re la tio
ns ;5
= Cr is is M an ag em
en t; 6 = Pu bl ic ity ;7
= Em
pl oy ee /In
te rn al
Co m m un
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m m un
ity Re la tio
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10 = Re pu
ta tio
n M an ag em
en t; 11
= Pr od
uc t/ Br an d Co
m m un
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12 = Pu bl ic Af fa irs /G ov er nm
en ta l Re la tio
ns ;1
3 = An
nu al /Q ua rt er ly
Re po
rt s; 14
= En vi ro nm
en ta l Sc an ni ng
;1 5 = Ca us e-
Re la te d M ar ke tin
g/ So ci al
M ar ke tin
g; 16
= Fi na nc ia l/I nv es to r Re la tio
ns ; 17
= En ha nc in g Im pa ct
of So ci al
M ed ia
U se ; 18
= Ag
gr av at in g Im pa ct
of So ci al
M ed ia
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= Co
m m un
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Pr of es si on
al s’ Le ad er sh ip
Be ha vi or s; 20
= Ti m e- Ba se d W or k- Li fe
Co nf lic t; 21
= St ra in -B as ed
W or k- Li fe
Co nf lic t.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 33
variance in the dependent variable [(F change (1, 303) = 9.55, p = .001, ΔR2 = .02)]. Furthermore, the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication explained a final additional 1% of the variance after the influence of three key social media tools adoption, social media use in the 13 key strategic communication functions, and the enhancing impact of social media use upon professionals’ work was controlled for [(F change (1, 302) = 3.19, p < .05, ΔR2 = .01)].
The use of Facebook (t = 3.10, p < .01, β = .19) and YouTube (t = 2.01, p < .05, β = .12) in strategic communication, the use of social media in environmental scanning (t = 2.53, p < .01, β = .14), the enhancing impact of social media use (t = 3.08, p < .01, β = .19), and the aggravating impact of social media use (t = 1.79, p < .05, β = .10) were significant positive predictors of communication professionals’ leadership behaviors. Interestingly, the significant effect of social media use in media relations (t = 2.32, p < .05, β = .14) on communication professionals’ leadership behaviors in model 3 became insignificant when the enhancing impact of social media use in strategic communication was added into the model, which indicated that participants’ perceived enhancing impact of social media use in their work fully mediated the effect of social media use in media relations on professionals’ leadership behaviors. Therefore, hypothesis 3 was supported. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were partially supported. The aggravating impact of social media use was found significantly but positively associated with professionals’ leadership behaviors. It seemed that strategic social media use enhanced professionals’ leadership behaviors even when it contributed to heavier workload, longer working hours, and increased job stress. Hypothesis 4 was not supported.
R3, H5a-H6b, & H7a-H7b: Time-based and strain-based work-life conflict
Based on the results of hierarchical regression analyses, the authors found that only the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication accounted for 17% of the variance in profes- sionals’ perceived time-based work-life conflict [(F change (3, 317) = 18.61, p < .001,ΔR2 = .13)] and 12% of the variance in professionals’ perceived strain-based work-life conflict [(F change (3, 317) = 18.61, p < .001, ΔR2 = .13)], when the linear combination of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use, the linear combination of social media use in the 13 key strategic communication functions, and the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon professionals’ work were all controlled for.
The aggravating impact of social media use on professionals’ work (t = 8.33, p < .001, β = .44) significantly predicted their level of perceived time-based work-life conflict. However, the significant effect of social media use in crisis management (t = 2.15, p < .05, β = .14) on time- based work-life conflict in model 4 became insignificant when the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication was added into the model. This finding suggested that participants’ perceived aggravating impact of social media use in their work fully mediated the effect of social media use in crisis management on their perceived level of time-based work-life conflict.
Moreover, the use of social media in public affairs/governmental relations (t = 2.37, p < .01, β = .14) and the aggravating impact of social media use on professionals’ work (t = 6.94, p < .001, β = .39) were two significant predictors of professionals’ level of perceived strain-based work-life conflict. H6a and H6b were supported, but H5a and H5b were rejected. Because communication professionals’ leadership behaviors significantly predicted neither time-based work-life conflict nor strain-based work-life conflict, H7a and H7b were also rejected (see Figure 2 for a simplified model with all statistically significant standardized path coefficients labeled out).
Conclusions and discussion
Using the E-leadership theory (Avolio et al., 2014; Gurr, 2004) from the management literature as an umbrella framework, this study examined the impact of social media use on communication professionals’ strategic communication work, leadership behaviors, and their perceptions of work-
34 H. JIANG ET AL.
life conflict. Particularly, the present study marked a pioneering initiative to investigate how communication professionals’ strategic social media practices relate to the positive and negative impact of social media use upon their work, how their strategic social media practices and the impact of social media use in strategic communication functions influence professionals’ leadership beha- viors, and finally how social media use, its impact, and professionals’ leadership behaviors are all associated with their perceived occupational well-being.
Enhancing vs. aggravating effects of social media use in strategic communication practices
Despite the prevalence of social media use in organizations, few studies have examined the effects of social media on the completion of work-related tasks (Cao et al., 2012; Tsay et al., 2012), especially in communication industry. The extant literature suggested some enhancing impact of social media use on job performance. For instance, employees may gain flexibility in technologically mediated work, working hours, and locations (e.g., telework) (e.g., Golden & Geisler, 2007). On the other hand, adopting digital technologies at work may result in some aggravating effects such as the availability pressure to respond immediately to work-related issues even during off work time at home (Golden, 2013). Consistent with previous literature, the results of this study indicated that communication professionals’ use of specific social media tools and their strategic social media use in specific strategic communication functions may lead to both enhancing and aggravating impact of social media upon their communication work.
In particular, the more frequently communication professionals used YouTube for job purposes, the more they realized the way social media practices could enhance their work. A strategic and extensive social media use in media relations, employee/internal communications, and cause-related marketing/social marketing helped professionals to improve their ability to do their job, increase their productivity, obtain more flexibility in the hours they need to work, enhance their ability to share their ideas with coworkers, and strengthen their professional relationships. On the other hand, an intensive use of Twitter in communication work and use of social media tools in employee/
YouTube
Employee/Internal Communications
Cause-related Marketing/Social Marketing
Crisis Management
Environmental Scanning
Public Affairs/ Governmental Relations
The Enhancing Impact of Social
Media Use
The Aggravating Impact of Social
Media Use
Professionals’ Leadership Behaviors
Time-Based Work-Life Conflict
Strain-Based Work-Life Conflict
.13**
.14**
.11*
.14*
.13*
.12*
.19**
.19**
.10*
.44***
.39***
.14*
Media Relations
.28***
.12*
.14**
Figure 2. Simplified model with standardized path coefficients. Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001, one-tailed test.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 35
internal communications and crisis management resulted in communication professionals’ increased working hours, workload, and job stress.
Surprisingly, the results revealed no significant relationship between Facebook use in strategic communication functions and positive and negative social media impact upon communication professionals’ work. Future research is thus needed to further explore the strategic role of Facebook use in strategic communication practices. Moreover, communication professionals seemed to have used Twitter in a way that made their work even busier and more stressful. More studies are called for to explore how Twitter can potentially enhance or may have enhanced professionals’ work by helping them to finish work more efficiently and build supportive networks in and outside of their organizations.
Although YouTube was identified as a social media tool that facilitated professionals’ work in the present study, researchers and professionals need to figure out how that works and if not used appropriately, how it may extend the hours professionals spend at their job, expand their job responsibilities, and increase their job stress. Although social media management in employee/ internal communications is not extensively studied in strategic communication scholarship, it is worthy of scholars’ and professionals’ efforts to investigate how to accomplish an optimal use of social media in this key strategic communication function. The present study did uncover both its positive and negative impact upon professionals’ work. Future research is also needed to further examine the underlying mechanisms accounting for the significant positive relationship between the enhancing impact of social media use and cause-related marketing/social marketing and media relations, as well as the significant negative relationship between crisis management and the aggravating impact of social media use.
Moreover, this study failed to support the statistically significant relationships between social media impact on communication work and use of social media in several key strategic communica- tion functions (i.e., Publicity, Special Events, Community Relations, Reputation Management, Product/Brand Communication, Public Affairs/Governmental Relations, Annual/Quarterly Reports, Environmental Scanning, and Financial/Investor Relations), which obviously remains an important direction for future research on social media management in strategic communication.
Finally, future quantitative and qualitative research is also needed to investigate how commu- nication professionals use various social media tools and how their social media management in various strategic communication functions are related to their perceptions of the way social media use impacts their daily work. In addition, more studies are called for to probe how communication professionals utilize the functionalities of different social media platforms and how and why they use them in different communication functions, which ultimately contributes to the enhancing and/or aggravating effects of social media use upon professional communication work.
Strategic social media use leading to excellent E-leadership behaviors
The extant research on social media and communication leadership supported a positive linkage between strategic social media management and communication leadership behaviors (Agostino, 2013; Carim & Warwick, 2013; Cho et al., 2014; Estanyol, 2012; Hong, 2013; Meng & Berger, 2013; Porter et al., 2007). By extending E-leadership (Avolio et al., 2014) to involve strategic communica- tion functions, the results of the present study showed that using Facebook and YouTube in their work helped E-leaders in communication departments to understand an organization’s internal and external environments, adapt communication strategies to accomplish organizational goals, inspire other organizational members to share common visions reflecting key organizational values, facil- itate team collaboration across different organizational units, adhere to professional standards and codes of ethics, cultivate mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its strategic publics, participate in internal strategic decision making, and apply communication knowledge to develop effective communication strategies.
36 H. JIANG ET AL.
Likewise, proactive social media management for environmental scanning advanced profes- sionals’ leadership behaviors. In other words, integrating social media management with strategic communication functions enabled these E-leaders in this study to create various capitals suggested in previous studies (e.g., Deans, 2011; Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014) such as human, social, and organizational capital, which in turn allowed these communication professionals to demonstrate effective leadership behaviors. Despite the enhancing and aggravating consequences upon their work by an extensive use of social media, professionals’ developed capabilities, increased productivity, prolonged flexible working hours, advanced professional networks, and even what they went through when facing demanding workload and job stress all helped them to play a leadership role in strategic communication management.
Furthermore, the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use completely mediated the influence of the use of Twitter, YouTube, and social media use in employee/internal communica- tions, cause-related marketing/social marketing, media relations, and crisis management on profes- sionals’ leadership behaviors. Future research is needed to find out how to strategically use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in strategic communication and how social media can be best practiced in key strategic communication functions, as social media use can indirectly influence how professionals play their leadership role in communication management. Future studies are also called for to further examine the associations between leadership behaviors with other social media tools and the use of them in various strategic communications functions. More importantly, researchers should scrutinize how communication professionals manage social media and how such strategic management contributes to the development of communication leadership behaviors longitudinally.
Social media, leadership behaviors, & work-life interface
In the social media era, it is pivotal for both scholars and managers to think about how the prevalence of social media use may influence employees’ and in particular, communication profes- sionals’ physical and psychological well-being. On the one hand, adopting social media in the workplace may create great flexibility for professionals to work at a convenient location and time, improve their work productivity, or reward them with additional time and energy to fulfill their family responsibilities. On the other hand, technologically mediated work also creates unintended negative outcomes including extended working hours, increased workload, and more stress, which can in return contribute to a high level of conflict between their work and personal life (Golden, 2013; Golden & Geisler, 2007; Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014). In addition, professionals who perform leadership behaviors and fulfill leadership responsibilities usually encounter very demand- ing job expectations (e.g., time pressures, stressful hours). Their stringent work responsibilities may remain largely incompatible with their family requirements. Consequently, they become especially susceptible to work-life conflict (McCarthy et al., 2010; Shelton et al., 2008; Stock et al., 2014).
In accordance with what prior literature predicted, when professionals realized that social media use in their work actually made them work even longer hours and increased their workload as well as job stress, they tended to perceive a high level of time-based and strain-based work-life conflict. In addition, the more social media tools that professionals used in practicing public affairs/govern- mental relations, the higher their perceived level of stain-based work-life conflict. Public affairs/ governmental relations professionals thus may need extra supportive resources and networks to help them reconcile the conflict and be better off in both professional and personal arenas. Finally, being fully engaged on Twitter for work purposes and being intensively involved in social media use for employee/internal communications and crisis management indirectly affected professionals’ strain- based work-life conflict through their perceived aggravating impact of social media upon their work. Therefore, strategic Twitter use and social media management in employee/internal communications and crisis management remain an important topic for scholars and professionals to further examine. How can organizations accomplish excellent communication management via social media, but without compromising professionals’ occupational and personal well-being?
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 37
Theoretical and practical implications of the study
Based on this study’s findings, the authors generated several theoretical implications that need to be further examined in future communication scholarship on social media, leadership, and work-life conflict. First, by applying the communication leadership theory (Meng & Berger, 2013) and the E-leadership theory (Avolio et al., 2001, 2014) in a social media management context, this study not only tested these theories’ power and utility but also filled a specific void by addressing the connection between excellent communication leadership behaviors and best communication man- agement practices in the digital age (Meng & Berger, 2013; McKie & Willis, 2015).
Second, as an integral part of scholarship on communication professionals’ occupational and psychological well-being, work-life conflict has not been extensively examined in relation to social media practices. This study thus adds a valuable perspective into the existing yet limited commu- nication research on work-life conflict (e.g., Aldoory et al., 2008; Jiang, 2012; Jiang & Shen, 2013). Future research is needed to further theorize this body of knowledge in the strategic communication discipline and generate helpful managerial implications and suggestions to deal with this issue. Finally, this study suggests an area which is highly under-investigated. In social media scholarship, researchers have overemphasized the impact of social media use upon management of communica- tion programs. To advance people’s understanding of its impact upon individual communication professionals’ (a critical internal public) daily work performance, perceptions of their professional and personal well-being, effectiveness, and excellent leadership behaviors, this study made a sig- nificant first step.
Practical implications, limitation, and future research
This study has some practical implications, especially for communication professionals’ social media management. Future research is needed to discover the features of social media and connect them to the variables in the present study. This study is also merely based on one national sample of communication professionals. The findings cannot be generalized beyond the current study’s scope. Future research is needed to theorize on social media use, communication leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict, by sampling members of international professional communication organizations, such as International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and International Association of Business Communication (IABC). Last but not the least, qualitative research may help uncover individual professionals’ narratives that explain how social media use, its impact, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict are all interrelated to one another. The integrated E-leadership conceptual model is preliminary at the current stage and needs to be further developed in future scholarly research and professional communication practices.
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 41
- Abstract
- Literature review
- E-leadership as a theoretical framework: Integrating E-leadership use, its impact, leadership behaviors, and communication professionals’ work-life interface
- The impact of social media use on communicators’ professional work
- Transformed leadership as a result of strategic communicators’ interactions with the technology
- The interface between professional and personal life
- Major components of the strategic communication function
- Impact of social media use on strategic communicators’ work
- Communication leadership
- Linking excellent leadership behaviors to social media use
- Work-life conflict
- Time-based work-life conflict
- Strain-based work-life conflict
- Linking social media impact to work-life conflict
- Linking excellent leadership behaviors to work-life conflict
- Method
- Data collection
- Participant profile4
- Measures
- Social media use
- Social media impact upon communication professionals’ work: Enhancing vs. aggravating
- Time-based and strain-based work-life conflict
- Communication leadership behaviors
- Analysis
- Results
- Preliminary data analysis
- R1 to R2: The enhancing vs. aggravating impact of social media use
- H1 to H4: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors
- R3, H5a-H6b, & H7a-H7b: Time-based and strain-based work-life conflict
- Conclusions and discussion
- Enhancing vs. aggravating effects of social media use in strategic communication practices
- Strategic social media use leading to excellent E-�leadership behaviors
- Social media, leadership behaviors, & work-life interface
- Theoretical and practical implications of the study
- Practical implications, limitation, and future research
- References
