#HateMyJob: Follower Network Structure Predicts Organizational Dissent on Twitter

Dissent is an important organizational process. Scholars often examine face-to-face dissent, but social media is increasingly central in dissent interactions. This study analyzed 592 organizational dissent tweets, also collecting the structure of users’ follower networks. Structural topic modeling revealed four topics of organizational dissent: (a) time and rhythms of work, (b) unreasonable expectations, (c) frustrations with people, and (d) emotional anguish. The COVID-19 pandemic shaped organizational communication in myriad ways, and sentiment analysis of our data collected in 2020 and 2021 revealed that tweets became less positive over time. Network structure also predicted sentiment, with tweet negativity highest with small follower networks and fewer connections among followers. We interpret these results in light of context collapse, with results extending dissent literature by highlighting the emotional nature of public dissent.