DOI: 10.18848/2327-8013/cgp/a186 ISSN: 2327-932X

The Paradox of Social Media at Work

Kimberly McCarthy, Quynh Pham
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This exploratory qualitative study examines how employees experience and navigate social media engagement at work. While prior research documents both the benefits and harms of workplace social media, we explore how both simultaneously affect employees. Drawing on job crafting theory, this study explores how the implicit requirement for digital visibility creates psychological tension that employees actively manage. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with nineteen professionals across diverse industries. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with a priori category parameters derived from the literature. Magnitude and directional coding were applied to data to capture participants’ experiences along six identified continuums. Analysis reveals that workplace social media functions both as a resource and a demand. Participants described a psychological “push and pull” between visibility and vulnerability, authenticity and strategic curation, empowerment and burnout. Most participants engaged in deliberate job crafting to reconcile external social media expectations with internal psychological strain. The results suggest that social media has shifted from a discretionary tool to an implicit job demand.

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