ADOPTION OF INTERNAL SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND ITS INFLUENCES ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AN EXAMINATION OF AIRLINE EMPLOYEES IN THE UK AND NIGERIA

Abstract

The digital age has fundamentally changed employees’ and organizations’ notions of convenience, speed, information sharing, and employee interactions, which has given organizations a whole new way to engage employees and build employee relationships. Effective communication among employees within an organization enhances two-way productivity. Hence, organizations are increasingly using internal social media platforms to communicate and engage employees through the application of internal social media technology. Some of these mediums of communication are Facebook, Workplace by Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yammer, and Google+, to name but a few. This is more evident in the airline industry, whose large, dispersed workforce, that is people working different shifts, in different time zones, and various departments in different geographical areas, need coordination and engagement of individuals and teams across organizations. Although there is much research on the importance and benefits of using internal social media platforms for employee engagement, there is limited research on the factors influencing adoption and use of internal social media for employee engagement, and the extent to which internal social media influences employees’ intellectual, affective and social engagement and its impact on employee performance, This research has brought this into single study to examine factors that influence employee adoption and usage of internal social media on employee engagement and performance and their relationships for two countries’ employees, a top priority for airline companies who utilize internal social media for employee engagement to enhance performance in their organizations. Moreover, this study proposed and tested an extended theoretical model ;the technology acceptance model(TAM ). Using survey data from 343 airlines employees in UK and Nigerian airline companiesthat had adopted internal social vi media for engagement, this study uses the partial least squares structural equation modelling approach to test the proposed relationships between influencing factors of internal social media adoption and usage and employee engagement and their impact on employee performance, the results indicate that perceived ease of use and uncertainty avoidance are important, significant factors in internal social media adoption and usage for employee engagement in Nigerian airline companies. However, perceived usefulness and uncertainty avoidance are also significant actors in internal social media adoption and usage for employee engagement in UK airline companies. This finding is consistent with prior research and hold significant implications for both theory and practice.