The Impact of Social Media on Employees Performance and Productivity

This study investigates the impact of social media on employees performance and productivity in the industrial sector of Australia. It aims to find out how social media affects productivity, communication, and motivation of employees. The study will use mixed research methodology, including literature review and stratified sampling technique. The research hypothesis will be tested to determine whether social media use affects employee productivity and communication. The expected outcome of the study is to provide a professional code of conduct for employees to regulate social media use at the workplace.

Running head: IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE AND
PRODUCTIVITY; A CASE STUDY OF THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR IN
AUSTRALIA.
TITLE OF THE WORK
Name
Institution
Course
Date

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 2
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE AND
PRODUCTIVITY; A CASE STUDY OF THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR IN
AUSTRALIA.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................2
PROBLEM STATEMENT....................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES, AIM AND QUESTIONS........................................................................4
JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT..................................................................................................5
EXPECTED OUTCOME OF THE STUDY.........................................................................................5
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS..................................................6
HYPOTHESIS.......................................................................................................................................8
METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................................9
Organization of the study....................................................................................................................10
Budget.................................................................................................................................................10
Project activities..................................................................................................................................11
Gantt chart...........................................................................................................................................12
References...........................................................................................................................................13

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 3
SECTION I
INTRODUCTION
In the last few decades, technology has significantly manipulated the way the world operates,
right from communication to shopping. The world is connected than ever before, communication has
been made easy as people are able to communicate or convey information effortlessly to friends,
families and governments all over the world in just microseconds. This has been made possible by the
invention of social media platforms, an idea that was introduced by mark Zuckerberg in the early
2004. Since its introduction, there has been a rapid development of other social media platforms and
is currently deemed most popular, cheap and fast way of communication among people of far
distances (Bolton, et al., 2013, p.247). In other words, Social media is a platform for interaction
among people in the world where people can express their interests, careers and share information
freely. Social media uses internet-based application technology to ensure information sharing. Social
media applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, twitter, Instagram, viber, among others are accessed
by people on their smartphones, tablets, computers and desktop. This has been accelerated by the
rapid growth of mobile technology and devices such as smartphones that enables all/ most employees
working different stations and position, have the accessibility to smartphones and internet to share
information and chart with their dear ones both in the same working commerce and other outside
industries (Treem, & Leonardi, 2013, p.189).
However, the development of such trend has raised issues at the work, whether it is boosting
the performance or rather depreciating. It is believed that the productivity of all the industries in the
world is dependent on the output of the employees working in them but the dilemma here is that due
to technological advancement and introduction of social media that people can access on
smartphones, almost all the time is spent on these platforms. This has greatly impacted on the success
and growth of some of these industrial sectors (Leonardi, Huysman, & Steinfield, 2013, 15).

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 4
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Since the time of its invention, social media has gained popularity at a rocket’s speed, over
billions of people are using social media around the world. this is evidenced by the number of
applications download from the app stores. Nonetheless, the use of social media by the employees in
the industries during the working hours are increasingly raising concerns towards productivity
(Majchrzak, Faraj, Kane, & Azad, 2013, p.55). In other way, research has indicated that employees in
Australia spend too much time on the social networks like Facebook, Instagram twitter, WhatsApp
among others sharing information. This is deemed unprofessional by many scholars as it is assumed
that confidential information from the respective firms can easily be linked/ breach of confidentiality.
Furtherly, productivity and employer-employee relationships is also believed to have been hampered.
According to research that was made in 2012, it was specified that the employees spend a lot of time
on social media chatting with friends family members and co-workers and this affects their
productivity (Dabbagh, & Kitsantas, 2012, p.3)
On the other hand, social media use is continually being encouraged as a strategy of
engagement during working hours. More time and costs are saved as confidential messaged can be
delivered among the working community of a company at a reduced cost. The used of social media
groups have also acted as discussion forum, which in turn, has stimulated good relationship among
employees (Williams, Crittenden, Keo, & McCarty, 2012, p.136)
It is therefore unjustifiable if social media is a boost to employee performance or rather a
destruction. An absolute intuition is induced, intended to examine how the use of social media in the
workplace has affected the productivity of employees in different industries.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES, AIM AND QUESTIONS
The main aim of this research study is to find out and investigate how using social media at the
workplace has impacted on the employees, performance in the industrial sector. In simple terms, the
following are the objectives of the study;

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 5
 To investigate and find out how using social media at the workplace has affected the
productivity of employees in the industrial sector. To identify the average time employees spend in social media during the working hours. To investigate on the effects of spending much time on social media. To find out whether employees use social media for better motives at the workplace.
Research aim; The major aim of this research study is to ensure that a lasting solution is
proposed as a professional code of conduct by all the employees to ensure that social media use is
regulated at the workplace.
Research questions; The purpose of this research study is to answer all the questions that have
raised too much anxiety on why productivity of employees in the industrial sector has reduced. These
questions are;
 How can social media use be regulated at the workplace?
 How has the use of social media affected the productivity of employees?
 How has the industrial sector suffered due to this problem?
 What are the motives of using social media at the workplace?
These questions will help to answer the main objectives of this study and help the industrial
group to decide whether social media should continue to be used at the workplace or completely
stopped in order to improve on the productivity of employees in the industrial sector (De & Counts,
2013, p.316).
JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT
The study of social media use by employees in the industrial sector of Australia is very
important because it will help to find ways of solving the recurring analogies and create straggles for
passing policies for the employers (Lovejoy, & Saxton, 2012, p.357). The ability to have the core facts
in regard to social media can help in the re-structuring policies towards improving employee
productivity either by scrapping of social media or encouraging. This study will the following issues.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 6
This study will help to reveal how using social media at the workplace is reduces the
productivity of employees in the firms and propose possible ways stopping its use if it truly affects
negatively. As industries are also looking for the major cause of low productivity and performance of
employees, this study will also to show the industrial owners on how social media use is very
dangerous on the growth of the industries. It will also help to reveal how their employees can lead to
the collapse of industries by sharing its confidential information to their family members, friends and
other competitive companies (Vaast, & Kaganer, 2013, p. 101)
EXPECTED OUTCOME OF THE STUDY
This research proposal is expected to address the effects of over use of social media during
the working the working hours, and also evaluate the performance of industries where workers spend
much time on the social media.
It will still provide an understanding of the major reasons why employees should or not use
social media during the working hours. It will also provide an analytical framework for identifying
how employees should use social media (Sánchez, Levin, & Del Riego, 2012, p.123) This will help to
ensure that the productivity of employees in the industries is improved. The overall research report
that will be presented can help other industries to take on the same strategy in order in the line of
production to ensure that the performance and productivity of their employees is improved (Chung, &
Koo, 2015, p.229)

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 7
SECTION II
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
A series of research reports have indicated that the increasing use of social media at the work
place by industrial workers is negatively collated to the employee’s productivity. It is believed that
more time is dedicated to viewing irrelevant posts and chatting will significantly lower the
performance (Ravenscroft, Schmidt, Cook, & Bradley, 2012, p.249). Productivity of employees has
been defined as the quantity of output that an employee can produce in a given period of time using a
specific amount of resources. In other words, it is how much an employee is able to yield out of the
available resources (Obar, Zube, & Lampe,2012, p.25). An employee can produce much from the
given resources and less from the same resources given. When extra output is realized from the same
amount of resources given, the employee is regarded as efficient and vice vasa. In regard to this,
research studies have indicated that with the continued use of social media at the workplace,
destruction, poor quality, decline in involvement and skills, immoral behaviours among others are
witnessed (Bucher, Fieseler, & Suphan,2013, p.1667). If excessive use and adoption of something is
repeatedly done it is called addiction which may lead to wastage of resources and time (Schwartz et
al., 2013). When such addiction is instilled in employees, their behaviours changes which may lead to
change and decline in the quality of the products produced. This affects a firms’ reputation especially
when quality and volume of production is compromised (Ainin, Parveen, Moghavvemi, Jaafar, &
Mohd Shuib, 2015, p.588)

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 8
On the other hand, some scholars have strongly argued that social media is a necessary tool
that should be part of work. Most of the businesses are highly dependent on internet and social media
in particular, which implies that social media acts as a boost to its performance in the market by
increasing awareness (Zappavigna, 2012). Basing on the analogy that social media is a virtual world
of socialization, interaction and engagement, abundant knowledge can be got from the “virtual
world”. additionally, there are arguments are based on scientific views of emotional and psychological
depression. It is believed that social media provides refreshment sessions during working time which
helps in the reduction of fatigue (Oliveira, & Welch, 2013, p.405). This study will also show how
excessive use of social media has led to distraction whereby sometimes employees are diverted from
work and go for social media. However, research has shown that social media promotes knowledge
and learning, and improves on communication when it is used in the appropriate way (Cao, Vogel,
Guo, Liu, & Gu, 2012, p.3947)

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 9
It is therefore justifiable that there have been continuous divergent views in reference to the
social media usage at the work place, some attaching positive points of view while others have a
negative perception. It is therefore typical to conduct a careful research study that will assist in
establishing the core facts in reference to social media usage at work place (Hedman, & Djerf-Pierre,
2013, p.385)
HYPOTHESIS
According to the problem statement and the research objectives, the following research
hypothesis can be proposed that will be tested in this study.
H0: social media use at the workplace lowers employee productivity
H1: the use of social media at the work place does not affect employee productivity
Ho: Communication among employees at the workplace is significantly affected by social media

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 10
H1 Social media usage at the workplace does not in an way affect the communication among
employees’ the workplace.
H0 Social media is an important source of knowledge for the employees during their working hors
H1 Social media does not boost employee’s knowledge in anyway
METHODOLOGY
As this research is on a social phenomenon mixed research methodology will be used in order
to provide relevant report that will not have any bias from the stakeholders of this project. And these
methods are discussed below.
Literature review: For the secondary data, different literature review which are in line with
the research study, different books that has been published about industrial performance and
employee’s productivity in Australia will be reviewed, other sources such as Google scholar, online
libraries, articles and magazines will be used as a source of secondary research (Picazo, Gutiérrez, &
Luna, 2012, p.511)
Population: The target population of the study will consist of all the employees in the
industrial sector, all the population in Australia that use social media in their workplace and
industries. Due to many people in the industrial sector, stratified sampling technique will be used
whereby all the employees that are on social media will be identified and selected to provide data on
behalf of the entire group.
Participants/sample: Employees in the industrial sector that have access to social media in
their workplace and have mobile applications will be used. A number of 15 employees from each
industry that use social media will be selected on random sampling method technique to provide data
on the entire population. Participants from five major industries will be selected hence representing 70
participants.
Data collection: As source of primary data, interviews and questionnaires will also be used.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 11
Questionnaires will be designed and distributed to both the employees and owners of the industries.
Different types of questions will be used to ensure proper data collection on the employees conduct of
on social media.
Organization of the study
The research study will be structured in a professional report as follows
Chapter one; this section of the study will constitute the research proposal as required in the
assessment instruction. This will include the introduction of the report, research objectives,
requisitions and the research aims. This section will also include the problem statement of the study
Chapter two; this section of the study will have a detailed discussion of the theories related
to the research study.
Chapter three; It will also involve the in-depth evaluation of other people’s perception in
reference to the study. A review of what others perceive the topic of study
Chapter four; detailed explanation of the methodology used in the research study will be put
in this section of the study. A comprehensive elucidation of all the data collection processes and
methods. These will include but not limited to the sampling method, population of the study, data
collection methods, and reviewing of relevant literature studies from relevant and reliable recent
sources.
Chapter five; this will include all the research findings from the study including a critical
analysis of the data collected
Chapter six; this section entails all the research summaries of the study as analysed in section
five of the study. This section will further point out the identified gaps of the research study together
with the recommendations for the identified gaps.
Budget
Task Name Amount to be
spent

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 12
identification and submission of the research topic to the
project sponsor to lobby funds
$ 500
submission of the identified and approved research topic
for ethical approval
$ 500
identification, selection and shortlisting of the competent
research team for training
$ 1500
submission of the pre-research surveys to the potential
stakeholders of the research study to highlight research
agenda
$ 1000
identification of potential data sources for the research
study
$ 500
purchasing, renting and conducting a review of the
identified literature reports, both quantitative and
qualitative
$ 3000
reaching the identified population sample and conducting
balanced interview session
$ 1000
compiling of the collected reports from the diverse sources
collected during the research
$ 1500
conducting a critical evaluation and analysis of the research
findings, employing both qualitative and quantitative
$ 2000
conducting a critical analysis, evaluation and assessment of
the research findings
$ 1000
identification of the research gaps, pointing remedies and
citing gaps for future research
$ 1000
others $ 2000
total $ 17000
Project activities
Project activities/ timeline DURATION
(days)START
DATE
END
DATE
8/1/18 8/6/18 identification and submission of the research topic to
the project sponsor to lobby funds 5
8/6/18 8/10/18 submission of the identified and approved research
topic for ethical approval 4
8/11/18 8/16/18 identification, selection and shortlisting of the
competent research team for training 5
8/17/18 8/21/18
submission of the pre-research surveys to the
potential stakeholders of the research study to
highlight research agenda
4
8/22/18 8/26/18 identification of potential data sources for the
research study 4
8/26/18 8/29/18
purchasing, renting and conducting a review of the
identified literature reports, both quantitative and
qualitative
3
8/30/18 9/3/18 reaching the identified population sample and
conducting balanced interview session 4
9/3/18 9/7/18 compiling of the collected reports from the diverse
sources collected during the research 4
9/8/18 9/13/18 conducting a critical evaluation and analysis of the 5

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 13
research findings, employing both qualitative and
quantitative
9/13/18 9/25/18
conducting a critical evaluation and analysis of the
research findings, employing both qualitative and
quantitative
12
9/27/18 10/4/18 identification of the research gaps, pointing
remedies and citing gaps for future research 7
Gantt chart
identification and submission of the research topic to the project sponsor to lobby funds
submission of the identified and approved research topic for ethical approval
identification, selection and shortlisting of the competent research team for training
submission of the pre-research surveys to the potential stakeholders of the research study to
highlight research agenda
identification of potential data sources for the research study
purchasing, renting and conducting a review of the identified literature reports, both
quantitative and qualitative
reaching the identified population sample and conducting balanced interview session
compiling of the collected reports from the diverse sources collected during the research
conducting a critical evaluation and analysis of the research findings, employing both
qualitative and quantitative
conducting a critical evaluation and analysis of the research findings, employing both
qualitative and quantitative
identification of the research gaps, pointing remedies and citing gaps for future research
5/30/2018 7/19/2018 9/7/2018 10/27/2018

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE 14
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