Unfolding the contextual nature of enterprise social media use – a morphogenetic approach

ABSTRACT

Previous research has identified various organisational factors that influence the use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) applications in companies, as well as the outcomes of ESM use. However, these valuable contributions manifest themselves as isolated findings and sometimes provide conflicting results, for example, regarding the impact on organisational hierarchies. It appears that the context of ESM use, which may explain the diversity of results, is not yet sufficiently understood. Against this backdrop, we develop a theoretical framework that adopts a morphogenetic perspective and draws on organisational theory to conceptualise the interplay between four organisational context dimensions and ESM use. By applying this framework to an empirical analysis of a global organisation, we develop a systematic understanding of the contextual nature of ESM use. Our findings help to position and connect previous research on hierarchies, the role of management, and the transformative outcomes of ESM use.

KEYWORDS:

• Enterprise social media
• morphogenetic approach
• formal and informal organisation
• hierarchy
• case study
• organisational context

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. At this point we want to point out that we refrain from assigning the studies introduced in the related work section directly to the framework elements, as many studies conflate some formal and informal elements. Further, they do not explicate the vertical and horizontal directedness of the social interaction.

2. This article is based in parts on the doctoral dissertation of the first author (Hacker, 2017).

3. A preliminary analysis of the interview material is presented in Hacker & Bodendorf (2017).

4. In line with Figure 1, we use the following abbreviations (in combination with subsequent numbers) to denote the influences: Formal vertical (FV), Formal horizontal (FH), Informal vertical (IV), Informal horizontal (IH). An overview of all identified influences is given in Figure 2 at the end of this section.