Attitude Formation Towards Enterprise Social Software: A Qualitative Study Amongst HR Leaders
| Autor: | Verheyden, Mark |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Bernadas, Christine, Minchella, Delphine, Communication Sciences, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Popis: | Given the increasing importance of digital communication tools in Human Resource (HR) policies we have been particularly interested in how HR thought leaders perceive the role of these tools in the organization. Over the course of four months, data have been gathered through in-depth interviews with Belgian professionals who have been awarded the title of “HR manager of the year” during the last decade (2006 – 2015). The iterative cycle of data gathering and data analysis resulted in transcripts that were subsequently coded with the help of the specialized qualitative data analysis software package Atlas ti. We have used critical hermeneutics as our data analysis technique. A major strength of this method is that it allows the interpreter to invoke context as part of the “hermeneutic circle” in order to understand how subjects create meaning. Although our conclusions are only based on five interviews because the research is still ongoing, we can already detect a dominant narrative framework in our data. A first finding indicates widespread confusion aboutcthe empirical boundaries of ESS as a concept. Related concepts used in other studies such as “Enterprise Social Networks” and “Internal Social Media” were considered equally vague. Despite this conceptual confusion we found attitudes towards professional tools that build on a Web 2.0 logic to be overwhelmingly positive. The underlying rationale was found to be mostly managerial in the sense that the tools are positioned as facilitators of organizational processes designed to increase employee productivity. To conclude we also analyzed how our respondents assess the impact of ESS on HR policies in general and internal communication flows more in particular. With regard to internal communication interactive digital communication tools were found to be particularly useful to establish a dialogue between management and employees. We believe the research to be both timely and relevant because of its contribution to our understanding of what drives organizational adoption of ESS. Additionally, we believe that the field of organization studies can benefit from increased understanding of how the attitudes of key decision makers can impact the ways in which new media are integrated into the organization’s ecosystem. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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