The Impact of Social Media on Employability: A Case Study of Sainsbury's

This research paper investigates the role of social media in promoting employability, focusing on the case study of Sainsbury's, a prominent grocery chain in the UK. The study explores the perceptions of Sainsbury's employees regarding the influence of social media on their employability, the effectiveness of social media in finding job vacancies, and the role of social media in selecting the right employee. The research methodology involves a quantitative approach, utilizing a questionnaire survey of 50 Sainsbury's employees. The findings reveal that social media plays a significant role in motivating employability, with a majority of respondents believing it is an effective tool for finding job vacancies and selecting the right employee. The study also highlights the importance of social media in promoting work culture within the organization. The paper concludes that social media has become an integral part of the recruitment process, offering both opportunities and challenges for employers and job seekers alike.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................................5
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................................16
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY.......................................................................17
RESEARCH STRATEGY.......................................................................................................................22
SAMPLING........................................................................................................................................23
DATA COLLECTION...........................................................................................................................24
DATA ANALYSIS................................................................................................................................26
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS..............................................................................................................27
QUESTIONNAIRE..................................................................................................................................28
FINDINGS..............................................................................................................................................31
DISCUSSION AND EVOLUTION.............................................................................................................44
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................49
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................................51
1

INTRODUCTION
Social media is an effective tool in today's technological world. Humans are a social animal and they
crave for the interaction with different peoples around the world, because of this social media has
become popular over last few year decades. The popularity of social media lies in its easy and
feasible characteristics (Constantinides and Zinck Stagno, 2011). The social media campaigns by
various organisations have affected the mind of young folds. Peoples at most use their maximum
time surfing the internet and exploring the new things and knowledge around the world. People
use Facebook, Twitter, snap chat, WhatsApp and many other social sites. The use of these social
sites has enabled the organisations to mark their presence in the online networking. Online
networking has become an essential and significant part of the organisation. By online networking
the company come across several potential customers the attractive use of social media to enhance
the company's progress attracts the peoples across the world. People's around the world
understand the wide personality of the company and unemployed peoples tries to enter into the
company. The company who posts their daily updates and provides their daily details and pictures
of the company's atmosphere and happy employees attracts the employee and thus social media
acts as a tool for generating employment. The generation of employment through social media is
very effective for the company as the company will get a large number of potential hitters and thus
a skilled workforce will be employed in the company. In this project, we will focus on the role of
social media sites in motivating employability (Edosomwan, et.al 2011). In the present scenario, it
has been observed that there are many skilled personals who look for a good job but they are not
aware of the open doors which are provided to them and thus this social media provides the
gateways to this potential individuals to come and look for the job in their respective companies.
2

The reason behind choosing the topic is that now day’s firms are not able to get skilled individuals,
and due to the lack of skilled workability in the company's atmosphere, company’s lack productivity
and thus they get low profits. This low profits of the company setbacks the goals of the company in
a competitive environment. Poor management and the lack of adequate flow of information in the
company also prevails the growth of the company. It is also seen that the recruitment of workforce
from the third party agents charges a lot for per employee. This charging for employees is
unbearable because it is not sure on the part of the employee that he will work better and provide
profits, thus giving money for the employee who is unskilled and unproductive will make the
company furious. The utilisation of online networking enables the population to get knowledge
about the various trends and norms prevailing in the market leading to occupation and
employability. Social media promotes direct employment and this direct employment will be
helpful because the employees will be selected by the screening method (Divol et.al, 2012). The
purpose of choosing this project was to analyse and explain the advantages of social media over
other methods of motivating the employability. As social media has gained rapid prominence in last
few years it has become a transformational tool in transforming the business and employment in
the sector.
Recruiters have now understood that Talents are not going to wait and this factor enables the
recruiters to scrutinise the jobs by using social media as a weapon of promotion of jobs (Ott and
Longnecker, 2015). The promotions of a job by social media have led the scenario of recruitment
changed and thus it is very necessary to focus on the social media effectiveness on providing job
employment and other opportunities regarding the employment.
3

Research aims and objectives
Aim
The aim of this particular chosen study is to identify and to determine the role of social media sites
as to motive the employability aspects by identifying the impact of social media in promoting the
employability in the market.
Objective
To determine the importance of social media in Sainsbury.
To analyse the factors assisting in motivating the employability.
To evaluate the effectiveness and role of social media upon the employability in the firm.
To understand the strategies that are been utilized by the firm to create awareness about the
opportunities for the job seekers
4

LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Sitaram and Bernardo, (2010), social media has become the leader and applies for its
prominent role in promoting social contact and content sharing. Social media has brought peoples
of different cultures, caste and creeds together in one global platform. The film reviews which were
used to listen to radios and newspaper have shortened the gap as nowadays the film reviews are
announced as soon as the film gets premiered. Social media has shortened the gaps but have
widened bridges of personal contact as nowadays the only internet is the medium which can
connect peoples, peoples do not meet personally and it is a major drawback.
According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) social media is now the top agenda of many businesses.
The use of social media has increased significantly and this increment is hitting the mark day by day.
Businesses now days are trying to make the use of these social weapons as a major marketing tool
to display their product to the outside world. Many business executives, consultants and many
other prominent decision makers have paved the ways of successful use of this social sites like
Whatsapp, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter to execute the effectiveness of the social media in
successfully implementing the strategies and marketing capabilities.
Duggan et.al, (2015) Depicted that social media has made a boom in last few years the population
has switched their ways to more essential social media usages. The users of social media range
from the technology-oriented young people to baby boomers and other adults. Social media
provides contents for the peoples of all age groups. They define social media as "the group of
Internet-based applications build on the ideological and technological foundations, that allow the
creation and exchange of user-generated data and content” they also said that levels of enjoyment
5

derived during finding can be the positive great impact and the dramas associated behind it can be
a negative influence.
As per Shirky, (2011) social networking sites are becoming powerful sites for social interaction and
information exchanges. The Internet has become the essential part of the navigation of life it
affects the human way in each way. The ways in which we sleep and our leisure times everything
depends on the internet. Via internet large amount of information can be distributed to the
audiences worldwide with just in time process. Social sites also enable the individuals to have a
private and public arena for the execution of the work.
Couldry, (2012), depicts that social networking sites have built and developed new ways of building
relationships and exploiting connection gaps for the career management. Some scholars argue that
lonely and unsociable peoples widely uses passive social media while on the other hand peoples
with higher leadership scores use the active social Media.
According to Ebnet, (2012) Job hunting is a skill which is used by both job seekers and recruiters.
According to a survey made by the “career builders 2016 social media recruitment survey”, 60
percent of employers use the one or the other sources of social media in finding the job candidates,
this was 11 percent a decade ago. The sudden rise in this context has enabled every company to get
skilled labours or employees from the social media recruiting. Rosemary Haefner points that tool
such as Facebook and Twitter enables the employers to seek details of the employees other than
written in a resume or cover letter.
As per Hughes et.al, (2012) to get the employment via social Media it is very necessary for an
employee to have its digital identity because the employer while performing a job search, will enter
the keywords and this keyword are then used as basic which will give the names of the job seekers.
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Thus it is very necessary to provide every detail such as college/university names, year of
graduation and initials of a name.
It is also stated by McDonald and Thompson, (2016) that social media can impact the chances of
being hired for a particular job. The content a social profile contains enables the possibilities that a
person will be hired or not. Career builders conducted a search on over 2000 employers and found
that more than 51 percent of employers used social media for the recruitment. They did not select
employers who are found inappropriate. The definition of an inappropriate candidate according to
them was the person who is found evident of using drugs or discriminatory posts, the persons who
are having inappropriate names on the other hand candidates with a professional image and the
individuals matching the company's culture are selected (Ablowitz and Zhu, 2010). Thus it is
suggested that candidates must prepare a profile which will convey the professionalism
Once a candidate is hired, the importance of professional and positive profile does not affect. After
being hired it is very necessary to follow the company’s social media policy so that no rules will
break. Henderson and Bowley, (2010) suggested that one must not post the things that trigger the
religious sentiments of the person. It is also seen that employers are suggested that they should not
send a friend request to the persons hired because this will insight the sense of favouritism in the
office.
To attract more and more employees towards company it is needed to be aware of the presence of
social media in the company. The pages that a company promotes and the types of activities that
are being promoted on the company’s page must be checked. As per Macnamara and Zerfass,
(2012) it is the need of the company to rotate the router for searching the job seekers. The pages of
the company should promote the adverts like job hiring, job vacancies and the questions like
7

training opportunities and various modules because this adverts will attract the potential job
seekers to find the best-suited job for him.
According to equality act 2010, any act or offence carried out by the employee during the course of
the employment will be considered and treated as these are promoted by the employers. Thus, it is
very important that selection of candidates must be done by having a proper look at his/her social
profiles. The social media has proved itself effective in promoting and sharing the employment
opportunities and it has been the most important part of providing skilled labours.
According to Toloie-Eshlaghy et.al, (2011) the importance of social networks in employment
markets is pervasive and well documented. Unemployment creates duration dependence and
persistence and the persons lack his working skills and due to this fact the unemployment needs to
be eradicated and this will be done by implicating proper sets of steps and procedures which will
lead to the formulations of the new strategic development for carrying out employment with social
media as a supporting medium.
King et.al, (2014) quoted that social networking has increasingly replaced the CV, the candidates
and employers are needed to be choosy while filling the details and other relevant details. Many
fake resumes are being submitted to companies and the companies need to take the proper
checking officials who will be responsible for choosing the appropriate resumes or CVS. Due to this
reason, the employers and employees are cautious these days. Employers have the powers to filter
the candidates based on the university attended/ percentage gained and many essential factors
affect the selection of employees through Social Media.
As per Roth et.al, (2016) hiring through social media is often free and is of low cost. Many
employers use LinkedIn to hire the skilled persons. Reliability of the information available online
8

cannot be measured. The social media gives the complete and adequate Personal information that
could lead employers affected by discrimination on the basis of caste, creeds etc. it is seen that 35
percent of job seekers log onto social networking sites each day (personified, 2010). Recruiters are
starting their mobile based applications so that the persons who are in search of a job will get the
information regarding the career opportunities inside the company.
Tess, (2013) quoted that; recruiters pay to private companies for promotion of their pages and to
maintain the holistic data of potential candidates. Recruitment is a crucial process and the
employers need to be more conscious about the recruitment if a person is recruiting someone, he
must have full information of the person who is in charge. Recruitment is greatly affected by the
social media because the person nowadays spent a lot of time in surfing and in his surfing operation
he encounters with many potential employment sites.
According to Bryman, (2015), the introduction of job-search sites has made the work easier and
fanatic for the job seekers, job seekers just upload their curriculum vitae in the job search sites and
then the companies who wants the employment of particular employee just visit the curriculum
profile initiated by him the commencement of the job-search sites has made the use of hard-copies
less and the employers get the perfect employee within times.
According to Sánchez Abril et. Al, (2012) social media has impacted the youth in many ways, job
dissatisfaction is a great factor which is prevailing in all the organisations and the person who is
dissatisfied with his job, searches a new job. While encountering themselves with the social sites
they come across many job vacancies and recruitments and they get attracted towards the job and
in this factor, they come across many jobs and select the best one for them. The job selection by
the employer depends on the way the job has been presented in social sites, the motivations and
9

the designing of adverts plays a prominent role in attracting the employers to work in their
company.
Olivas-Lujan and Bondarouk, (2013) quoted that the exponential rise of social media in past years
has made the prominent changes in the way employee and employers share a relation. Social
media provides the employee and employers with the number of opportunities and thus providing
a new communication channel. The employees can share any piece of data and talks with the
employer whether talks are bad mouthed or not they can also make derogatory comments on the
colleagues with help of social communication chart. The excessive use of social media in office
hours is unproductive. It has been seen from past evidence that use of social media by employees
has been increased during office hours. The extensive use of this media during office hours will lag
the productivity and thus it will be leading the company in the backward direction. It has also been
evidenced that many employees are terminate or suspended because of this habit and thus it has
been suggested that social media is a boon and it should not be misused.
Davis III et.al, (2012) evidenced that now a day's colleagues in office start communicating with each
other via social media and thus they create an atmosphere which proves fruitful for the companies.
They make strategies and start making the plans. The use of social Medias has enabled the
colleagues to come close to each other and they share personal relations with each other. It is also
evidenced that people start making groups within the organisational atmosphere and thus they
start mocking the other colleagues who are not joined with them on social media. This is again
proving a sad part on the side of social media. It is suggested that there must be a ban on the use of
social media sites in office and there must be certain provisions which will prove beneficial in
eradicating the flawed use of social media. Ngai et.al, (2015) said that there must be restrictions on
the use of social sites which are providing chatterboxes. There must be legal laws which should
10

state that trade secrets should not be released outside. Employees should not discourage
colleagues, suppliers and customers. It should be eye watched that employees must not talk on
behalf of the companies unless authorised to do so.
The fact report says that employees use 32 percent of their office time in using the social media.
According to the report, Facebook is the most used social site. From the 62 percent employees who
used social media during their office hours 83 percent of them spend their significant time in
browsing Facebook (Allen et.al, 2013).
According to the team lease world records an average of about 2.35 hours is spent on using the
social media during office hours. Because the use of social media is affecting employability in very
significant manner, companies who own the social media policies have become rampant and they
are removing the employees who are continually over-crossing the laws.
As per Madia, (2011), traditionally employers who just give information about him on the paper
resumes does not allow the employer to know about his personal interest. But with the advent of
the social media platforms employers now a day’s finds the adequate information of employee
regarding his personal interest, social backgrounds, his ability and disabilities, his past working
experiences and many other things are disclosed which a paper resume could not have disclosed.
From job seekers point of view, social media has made the task of finding the job easy. It has made
the jobseekers enable to identify the number of jobs from the Social Media. They can screen the
number of jobs according to the needs and demands. As per Caers and Castelyns, (2011) the
internet has enabled the peoples from remote areas to come across the social media platforms and
get the specific job. Job seekers from remote areas try to get the job in a niche market and this
employment criterion set by them is fulfilled by the effective use of social media in searching for
the job.
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Employers want to get complete access to the data of the person and this data can be analysed
only by the social media. The questions such as caste, creed and family backgrounds are sensitive
and these questions cannot be asked in general. These questions are then identified and are then
googled for the answers and the person is selected for the job.
According to Salihu (2015), the utilization of online networking by the firm to complete its powerful
correspondence and making mindfulness about the employability is properly performed by it. Social
media at the present time has played a very important role in motivating employability aspects.
There are different modes of communication that company adopts to create awareness about their
things and their requirements as well. As to get suitable and efficient employees in an organisation
the best tool to communicate the need for a company to the market people, social media sites play
a very vital role. More than 50% of people can be seen active on social sites on daily basis. In
according Doherty, (2010) to, this plays a very important role to do a communication with each
other. It is very necessary for an organisation to use as this will assist the company to create
awareness about the need it has for new and efficient employees. This is also very helpful for the
company as this will assist it in making itself known to people in the market. It also has a negative
impact on the operations of the company. This will affect organisation if proper management is not
done by a company. Social sites have been used in very carefully as there are many threats related
to this. Personal information and data that any candidate shares have to be protected which
become very difficult.
As per Sivertzen, (2013) a number of different working methods have been developed in last few
years. The three main types of employment status are self-employment, worker, and employee.
The rights possessed by employees are more than that of workers, which means any right engaged
with workers also gets engage with the employee. Workers are entitled to certain rights such as
12

national minimum wage policy and paid annual leave. An employee works within the company on
employee contract basis and works personally. A contract must clearly mention the terms and
should also inform conditions regarding pay, annual leaves etc. Workers also work within the
company on a contract basis and carry out their work personally but they have limited rights and
are under the regulations of sub-contractor. As per Certo, (2015), a self-employed person runs their
own business and takes responsibilities for the risks and failures associated with it. They will be paid
according to the service provided by them and do not enjoy the rights as enjoyed by other
employees and workers. Agency workers are the workers who are supplied by the agencies to carry
out the work for his/her clients. The agency workers work only for limited time frames.
Apprenticeships are work-based training programmes which lead to degrees which are nationally
qualified. Depending on the level of apprenticeships, it can take 1 to 4 years to complete.Interns
are the students who are graduated and spend fix time on working. Internships often offer
sufficient knowledge and experiences which will prove fruitful for their skills. Volunteers are the
workers inside the company’s background who are unpaid and work for organisations such as
charities, voluntary organisations and fundraising bodies.
According to Helpman et.al, 2010, Unemployment in the UK is due to many vital problems which
are persistent and needs to be checked out in terms of providing employment to other skilled
workers, unemployment is due to the lack of skills persisted in the young people. The recruitment
methods adopted by the HR departments are poor and inadequate. The vocational course provided
by the schools and colleges are backdated and does not contain any advanced technologies.
Recruiters are sometimes biased and they only need the experienced staff to work with them and
this case is superficial in terms as if new young age will not get employment as soon as they pass
their graduations, how will they gain experience to work with the esteemed company. According to
13

Feather, (2012), the unemployment problem is needed to be understood because unemployment
creates a sense of emotional trauma and the person who is unemployed will start losing his skills
and will get depressed. Unemployment creates inequality and this inequality will lead to conflicts in
society. As per Tanveer Choudhry et.al, (2012), unemployment is causing damage to youths as they
are turning their heads towards crime they loot, steal and also gets indulged in drugs smuggling.
This all facts are proving very dangerous for the country's economy.
Scarpetta et.al, 2010 commented that youth unemployment problem can be fixed by increasing the
employer support and reduce employment legislation which is proving as the barriers for young
people. By initiating the skill development courses and increasing the values, behaviour as well as
academic criteria. The vocational courses are needed to be improved and the qualifications of this
course are to be taken to the new grounds. It is recommended to ensure the education which
promises a prominent career and the career which will improve the economy of the workers. As per
Helpman et.al, (2010) the motivational scheme should be started in which the young peoples must
be motivated to work in all entry levels because once a person is entered into the organisation he
will jump to higher opportunities in near future.
According to Hunt, (2010) It cannot be doubted that social media has improved the recruitment
process by providing it open atmosphere and making it more democratic. It has increased the
visible talent pool from which the talents can be fetched. The skilled workers in the pool are caught
by providing them with the attractive salary and it will increase the employability. The suitable roles
for a person are identified and personal knowledge is gained and executed in fostering the growth
of the company. In this era of social media, recruiters cannot rely on the online profiles as the
content contained by them is relevant or they contain any fake information or anything. As per
Roth et.al, (2016), having an intimate knowledge of someone’s capability will help a lot in this
14

direction as it will help to recruit that person for the near future. It has been said that the
introduction of social media has completely changed the works and jobs which were used to be in
old days.
As per Grow and Ward, (2013) social media, on the whole, is now passing many contributions. It
has become the thing of play and medium of works. The works performed by social Media are the
ones which will possess a great impact on the company’s policies. As per Madera, (2012), social
media is a most powerful weapon which can improve or destroy the image of the company in
several days. The virility of social media proves disastrous as any news whether it is fake or real will
circulate around all the citizens they will read the story and then the message will be passed on to
the next one, process repeats, cycle continues and the news which was fake will get fame and will
impact the company’s background. The HR of the company posts their status on Whatsapp,
Facebook or any other social media sites. The persons viewing the status will read it and if he
requires the job will execute the message to HR or if he is not interested in the job, will pass this
message to someone who is looking for the job (Cox, 2017). This chain will also execute unless the
requirement of job in particular company will be fulfilled. The virility of messages has been
increased in past years because the users of the social media have also increased. With the
increment of users of social media, employment status will be improved as now day’s recruiters are
shifting their focus on the recruitment through social media. Recruitment via social media is cost-
free and this also provides efficient works manship in the department.
15

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology deals with different strategies, interventions and plans that will carry out
the plans to do research in his jobs. It is just like an action plan that contains all long-term and
short-term goals. It is set of actions that are used to perform the research on the topic. Research
methodology is composite of philosophies, ideas and foundations that are used to drive the actions
which are to be followed in the course of research.
According to Bryman and Bell, (2015) the methodology is the strategy that determines the certain
use of techniques. The techniques enable the methods and help in deciding the best available
method for it. Research methods are the collection of data for the research projects. Research
methodology is the deeper approach and the reflection of the approached methods to determine
the findings. Research methodology is successful if it gives the successful outcome of the results.
Research methodology is the science which suggests the way the research is to be conducted. It is
the systematically and logically solving of the problem. It helps us to understand the procedure and
not just the products which are the outcomes of the research. Research methods are often
encountered as the part of a school or college course and also used in the advanced degree
courses. It is an integral part of the undergraduate courses. Basic research is the method or tool
that will be used to achieve the targets of the research.
Research methods generally fall into two categories i.e. quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative
data contains the numerical data which is the poll or survey conducted in support of the research
methods. The qualitative data contains data which is full of discussions and interviews of focus
groups which are used in the research methods (Zikmund et.al, 2013).
16

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS:
Qualitative research methods are the methods in which the focus groups are included, the in-depth
interviews are taken and documents are reviewed for varied themes. Qualitative research methods
are more subjective and contain data which are more in depth of few cases. The qualitative data
are text-based and are having a semi-structured response option. They do not contain any statically
approved data (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2015). The qualitative approach is valid and is reliable the
research paradigm mainly depends on the skills and the knowledge of the researcher. Time
expenditure is lighter on the planning. These are in the less generalised structure.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS:
These research methods are numerically based and contain the numerical collections of surveys,
online polls, structured interviews and observations the documents which are documented here
contains the numeric information (Kluemper and Rosen, 2009). This method synthesizes primarily
deductive process which can be conceptualized by concepts, theories and hypothesis which makes
up a complete theory. These are number based and less in depth but are broad in explaining the
complete details of the information across a large number of cases (Mackey and Gass, 2013).
Before making any quantitative data the polls and surveys are analysed and statistical data are
presented which contains all the basic information of the numerical data which are needed to be
presented in the terms of producing valid and reliable measuring methods (Miles et.al, 2013). This
is more generalised in structure and is explaining more complex details in easy ways.
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RESEARCH ONION
Figure 1: Research Onion
Source : [https://apessay.com/order/?rid=cc49f4f3231bb03f]
Research onion was designed by Saunders et.al (2007) which gives the idea about the stages by
which researcher passes in order to develop an effective methodology. The first step in formulating
any research is the development of research philosophy from where the first appropriate research
approaches is introduced (Hair, 2015). The adaptation of approach is the second step in which how
to perform a research is introduced. The research approaches can be of any type it can be a
deductive approach in which the hypotheses are done on a pre-existing theory, inductive approach
is the approach in which the specific approach is shifted to the general approach. This method is
used in qualitative approach where the absence of theory is explained in the research theory. This
18

method is used in the positive methodologies (Anderson et.al, 2010). The third step is the
formulation of research strategy. The research strategy is the formulation of the steps that a person
is intended to carry out. This strategical approach includes many strategies including the
experimental research, action research, surveys, interviews and case study research . Action
researchers are the practical approach to researchers which are used to identify the problem
(Matthews and Ross, 2014)ms within a community. Case study researchers are the assessment of
single unit in order to identify the key generalisations of the features. Choices in research onion are
the method which uses the methods like mono-methods, the mixed methods and multi-methods.
The multi-methods are divided into different subsets and each segment produces a specific dataset.
In mixed methods, the combined methodologies are used to create a single dataset. Time horizons
are the time framework in which the project is deadlined in this the projects are analysed and are
intended to be completed on the time. In research onion two types of time horizons are present;
cross-sectional time horizon and the horizontal time horizon (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016). Cross-
sectional time horizons are already established and the data are collected from them. In a
longitudinal time horizon, the data are collected over and over again for a limited period of time.
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HONEYCOMB MODEL
Figure 2: Honeycomb model
Source:https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Honeycomb-model-for-UX-Morvile-
2004_fig11_309736446
For a good research study, the research onion method is far more suitable for study as compared to
the honeycomb model. In honeycomb model, various activities are connected together as
honeycomb. Honeycomb consists of three main areas of research including philosophy, strategy
and approach along with the research design, data collection and the data analysis techniques.
There are seven elements of the findings of the data which are explained under the honeycomb
model. The seven elements are
 Conversation
 Sharing
 Presence
 Relationships
 Reputation
 Groups
 Identify
20

The identification of every content of the research is needed to be identified as it will help in
relating personal information with the relevant topics (Laumer et.al, 2010). The reputation, sharing
and presence of groups are needed to understand and analyse the methods in data collection
through a sequence of stages.
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RESEARCH STRATEGY
The research strategy is the strategies which suggest the steps which are needed to carry out
certain research. There are a number of approaches to find the research strategy such as
experimental research, action research, case study research, and a number of interviews, surveys
and literature reviews are concerned (Khan, 2011). The research aims at analysing the impact of
social media on the employability. In this research process, the interviews and surveys are
conducted to strategize the ways in which the researchers are needed to be conducted.
As unemployment is the biggest factor which plays a prominent role in the development of the
country and the social media plays an essential role in eradicating the unemployment by generating
the advertorials and other activities on social media (Atkinson and Storey, 2016). The strategy here
is, attracting the potential employee by the advertorials on the social media. The employers get the
data of the employer and according to it, the hiring is processed in the company.
As people of remote areas that are not aware of the job vacancies in urban areas, cannot get access
to this information if they are not connected to the social sites. The social media is a very powerful
weapon which can be triggered from any place in the world (Cole, 2013). The job seeker who is
using this social media gets his best suitable job from around the world and thus they will be able to
exploit the availability of jobs in online networking.
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SAMPLING
A simple sampling method is used in which the random selection of 100 employees was done. A
project report was sent to them and 80 out of 100 gave the positive response. The survey was
taken from them by providing a consent form to them. 50 out of 80 agreed on the consent form.
Our sample population was 50 and the questionnaire was provided to them, sample population
included 30 males and 20 females. The questionnaire contained the survey questions of how social
media is affecting the employability in Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's is a big grocery chain and it is
needed to identify the impacts of social media on employability (Matthews et.al, 2012). The
questionnaire also contains the personal question of how much time they use the social media
during the office hours. The study aims to analyse the perceptions of employees working in
Sainsbury’s.
23

DATA COLLECTION
Data collection is the methodological approach in which the different types of data are collected in
a systematic fashion (Scheaffer et..al, 2011). The relevant answers are generated from the relevant
outcomes of the data. Data collections are done to maintain the integrity of research because any
research without data is just waste of data formulations.
A formal data collection process is needed to be carried out because this ensures the accurate and
subsequent data collection.
Data can be collected in two ways: Primary Data and Secondary Data
Primary data
Primary data are the collection of data by the investigator himself for a specific purpose. The data
collected by the individual for his/her project and thesis. The primary data are individually taken by
the person by surveys, polls, and personal interview (Orkin, 2014). The quality of data is high as this
are collected for a specific purpose. Primary data enables the addition of data for the future
purpose. Primary data needs funding and this funding is dealt by funding agencies. During the
commencing of primary data, it is very necessary to have the ethical considerations.
Secondary Data
Secondary data are the data which was collected by someone else for some other purpose but it is
being used by the investigator for some other purpose. The secondary data are used to give
support of our findings (Flick, 2015). Census data used to analyse the data of educational quality in
the country may be considered as the example of secondary data. The data collected are not of
high quality because it was collected for some other purpose. The secondary data are less
24

expensive and the investigator is not responsible for the quality of the data personally. Additional
data are required because the secondary data is not just sufficient for the execution of research
(Campinha-Bacote, 2010). In this data collection approach, the data is been collected by the surveys
and questionnaires provided to the workers of Sainsbury's.
25

DATA ANALYSIS
The assessment of data collected through the questionnaire undergoes the analysis. The analysis
must be performed in a correct manner which will formulate the meaningful conclusions or
information (Silverman, 2016). Data analysis is the equally important consideration as the
methodology in the research. The data collected by questionnaire may be qualitative or
quantitative. The use of social media and the impact of social media on employability is explained in
the report and based on this the questionnaires was prepared.
The collected data will be observed by the individuals for the responses and are arranged in
graphical presentations or charts or are arranged on a percentage basis, as for how much
percentage of sample population falls in the same category (Lewis, 2015). This charts and graphs
are easy to be understood and are presented in the graphical formats to ease the understandings of
the observers.
As this research aims at understanding the impact of social media on the employability, the
adaptation of using social media in recruitment process will prove very helpful, as the employer will
get complete data of the employee and they will be able to find the quality of recruitment process
being used by them, on the basis of the outcomes of this research they will be suggested to make
following changes in their recruitment process.
26

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
As per Connelly, (2014), Data collection is a crucial thing and the most important thing in research
projects, there needs arrangements of providing the copyrights to the person from where the data
is collected in case of primary data when the data collection is done by individual himself he should
give the source from where the data is fetched and in case of secondary data collection the
references are needed to be made, for each data a reference is needed. Failing in doing these
ethical considerations may lead to the penalty or can be called as legal defaulters (Miller et.al,
2012). In research projects, it is a must thing to provide the references by using the suitable
referencing style.
27

QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Are you an active user of Social media?
a) Yes
b) No
2. How long have you been using social media platform?
a) Less than six months
b) 6 Months – 1 Year
c) 1 Year-2 Years
d) More than 2 years
3. Which social media network do you use? (You can specify more than one).
a) ______________
b) ______________
4. How much time do you spend on social media website per day?
a) 1-2 Hours
b) 2-3 Hours
c) 3-4 Hours
d) More than 4 hours
5. On a scale of 1-5 rate how social media motivate and influence employability?
a) 1- Poor
b) 2- Average
c) 3- Good
d) 4- Very Good
e) 5- Outstanding
6. On a scale of 1- 5 rate the relevancy of jobs published on social media websites per day?
a) 1- Poor
28

b) 2- Average
c) 3- Good
d) 4- Very Good
e) 5- Outstanding
7. Do you think social media considered effective tools in finding job vacancies
a) Yes
b) No
8. Which Social media platform is more appropriate for job seekers?
a) Online advertisement
b) Twitter
c) Facebook
d) LinkedIn
9. Do you think Social media helps in selecting the right employee?
a) Yes
b) No
10. Qualification Level
a) Under Graduate
b) Graduate
c) Post Graduate
11. Have you ever purchased anything from the information you received through social
networking sites?
a) Yes
b) No
12. Do you think Social networking sites promote work culture in the company?
a) Yes
b) No
29

13 Are your colleaguesconnected to you by social media?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Only some colleagues are collected
d) Only some colleagues are not collected
30

FINDINGS
1. Are you an active user of Social media?
a) Yes
b) No
Number of
respondents
Yes No
50 48 2
100% 96% 4%
No. of active users
Yes
No
Survey Conducted through questionnaire depicts that 96% of the total sample population are active
users and uses their social media profiles regularly. Around 4% of the sample population are
inactive users and are not using any of the social networking sites.
31

2. How long have you been using social media platform?
a) Less than six months
b) 6 Months – 1 Year
c) 1 Year-2 Years
d) More than 2 years
Number of
respondents
Less than six
months
6 months-1 year 1year-2year More than 2
years
50 5 10 25 10
100% 10% 20% 50% 20%
Less than six
months 6 months-1 year 1year-2year More than 2
years
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Time On Socia media
Time On Socia media
Around 50% of the total sample population are the users of social media from 1-2 years and are
actively engaged in the social media participation. Around 10% of them are using the social media
from less than six months, the bar graph shows that 20% of the population is engaged in social
media from 6months to 1 year and around 20% are on the social media platform from more than 2
years.
32

3. Which social media network do you use? (You can specify more than one).
a) ______________
b) ______________
Number of respondents Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
50 42 5 3
100% 84% 10% 6%
Social Media usage
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Social media networking sites contain many platforms among which few are worldwide used and
the survey shows that 84% of the sample population are using Facebook and 10%are using twitter.
The LinkedIn is used by the 6% of the sample population. Facebook is used mostly because the user
interface provided by the Facebook is best as compared to Twitter and LinkedIn, Moreover, the
Facebook also provide chat options which enables the effective communication between different
users (Sullivan-Bolyai et.al, 2014).
33

4. How much time do you spend on social media website per day?
a) 1-2 Hours
b) 2-3 Hours
c) 3-4 Hours
d) More than 4 hours
Number of
respondents
1-2 Hours 2-3 Hours 3-4 Hours More than 4
hours
50 10 20 15 5
100 20% 40% 30% 10%
Time spend on social media
1-2 Hours
2-3 Hours
3-4 Hours
More than 4 hours
For the effective productivity within the Sainsbury's, it is most important that workers use this
social media as low as possible during the office hours. The pie chart shows that around 40% of the
total sample population uses the social media for 2-3 hours daily during office hours. About 30%
uses the social media for about 3-4 hours and 10% uses these social sites for maximum time and
only 20% uses these social platform sites for 1-2 hours during office hours.
34

5. On a scale of the 1-5 rate that how social media motivate and influence employability?
a) 1- Poor
b) 2- Average
c) 3- Good
d) 4- Very Good
e) 5- Outstanding
Number of
respondents
Poor Average Good Very Good Outstanding
50 2 2 10 25 11
100% 4% 4% 20% 50% 22%
Poor Average Good Very Good Outstanding
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Rating Of Influence of Social media
Rating Of Influence of Social
media
50% of the total sample population thinks that social media influences the employability in very
good ways and 22% thinks that effect on employability by social media is outstanding. Respectively
4% population are thinking the effect of social media on employability is poor and average, Rest
20% answers that effect of social media on employability is good.
35

6. On a scale of 1- 5 rate the relevancy of jobs published on social media websites per day?
a) 1- Poor
b) 2- Average
c) 3- Good
d) 4- Very Good
e) 5- Outstanding
Number of
respondents
Poor Average Good Very Good Outstanding
50 5 7 16 22 0
100% 10% 14% 32% 44% 0%
Poor Average Good Very Good Outstanding
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Relevancy of jobs published in social media
Relevancy of jobs published in
social media
44% respondents answer that the jobs published in social media is relevant and very good and 32%
thinks that jobs published are good. 24% thinks that jobs published on social media are not relevant
or have average relevancy. No one from the respondents has answered that jobs published are
outstanding.
36

7. Do you think social media considered effective tools in finding job vacancies?
a) Yes
b) No
Number of respondents Yes No
50 47 3
100% 94% 6%
Is social media considered effective tool in
finding job vacancies
Yes
No
Many scholars have considered social media as an effective tool in finding job vacancies (Neuman,
2013). 94% of the respondents are agreeing with the scholars and thinks that the social media is an
effective tool in finding job vacancies. Only 6% thinks that social media is not an effective tool in
finding job vacancies.
37

8. Which Social media platform is more appropriate for job seekers?
a) Online advertisement
b) Twitter
c) Facebook
d) LinkedIn
Number of
respondents
Online
advertisement
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
50 10 10 25 5
100 20% 20% 50% 10%
Social media platform more appropriate for job
seekers
Online advertisement
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
As Facebook is used by many peoples in the world and is the active users of it. 50% of Respondents
responded that Facebook is the best social media platform for the job seekers. Twitter is the second
most used networking sites and 20% have answered that online media advertising and Twitter are
the best platforms for the job seekers. Only 10% have responded LinkedIn to be the best platform
for job seekers.
38

9. Do you think Social media helps in selecting the right employee?
a) Yes
b) No
Number of respondents Yes No
50 49 1
100% 98% 2%
Do you think Social media helps in selecting
the right employee
Yes
No
As social media is considered as the best platform for the employers and job seekers. 98% of the
respondents responded that Social media helps in selecting the right employee and only 2% have
responded that Social media is ineffective in selecting the best employee for the organisations.
39

10. Qualification Level
a) Under Graduate
b) Graduate
c) Post Graduate
Number of
respondents
Under Graduate Graduate Post Graduate
50 0 10 40
100% 0% 20% 80%
Under Graduate Graduate Post Graduate
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Qualification Level
Qualification Level
The questionnaire was served to the employees of Sainsbury's and it was found that 80% of the
respondents are the postgraduate and 20% of the sample population is graduated. Nobody is
undergraduate from the sample populations.
40

11. Have you ever purchased anything from the information you received through social
networking sites?
a) Yes
b) No
Number of
respondents
Yes No
50 43 7
100% 86% 14%
Purchasing From Social Networking Sites
Yes
No
It is surveyed that 86% of the population has purchased something or the other form the social
networking sites as E-commerce is prevailing in the global market Data is quite relevant (Meister
et.al, 2010), only 14% have responded that they have not purchased anything from the social
networking sites.
41

12. Do you think Social networking sites promote work culture in the company?
a) Yes
b) No
Number of
respondents
Yes No
50 47 3
100% 94% 6%
Do you think Social networking sites
promote work culture in the company
Yes
No
Work culture in the company is the important factor which is very much needed for the increment
in productivity within the organisation.
94% of the respondents answered in a survey that they believe that social networking sites
promote work culture and it is much needed in the course of the company. 6% of the respondents
were not agreeing with the fact that social networking sites promote work culture within the
organisation.
42

13 Are your colleagues connected to you by social media?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Only some colleagues are collected
d) Only some colleagues are not collected
Number of
respondents
Yes No Only some
colleagues are
collected
Only some
colleagues are
not collected
50 1 0 25 24
100% 2% 0% 50% 48%
Are your colleagues connected to you by
social media
Yes
No
Only some colleagues are
collected
Only some colleagues are not
collected
Work Culture in companies are promoted by the use of social media and for the work culture to
promote it is very necessary that the colleagues are connected to each other and it is found in a
survey that 100% of the sample population are connected to each other in some of the other ways.
43

DISCUSSION AND EVOLUTION
Social media is a thing which has a lot to say and a lot to provide. Social media provides an efficient
way of promotion of employability. It is the social media which preserves the recruiting of human
resources in future times (Pigou, 2013). We have understood the impact of social media on
employability by taking the survey.
For the survey, we have chosen Sainsbury's because it is a prominent and emerging industry in the
UK. it has worldwide networks and it contains many employees in it. The survey was conducted by
randomly selecting 100 employees from the different departments of the company. Project report,
articles and the data from the secondary research was submitted to the workforce working within
the Sainsbury's. Employees analysed the data provided to them. 80 employees out of 100 gave
their positive response. The positive response given by the employees was based on their will that
they want to give their answers regarding the questionnaires. The consent form was sent to the
employees who stated that their identities will not be disclosed until and unless specified rules and
regulations bound them to do so. 50 out of 80 filled the consent form. After analysing the consent
form, the questionnaires were sent to the respected individuals. The questions in the questionnaire
were prepared by the group of consultants and business intellectuals who looked into every aspect
of the company’s background, after preparing questionnaire it is then submitted to the individuals
who filled the consent form. The questions in the questionnaire contain the questions such as:
1. Are you an active user of Social media?
2. How long have you been using social media platform?
3. Which social media network do you use? (You can specify more than one).
4. How much time do you spend on social media website per day?
5. On a scale of the 1-5 rate that how social media motivate and influence employability?
44

6. On a scale of 1- 5 rate the relevancy of jobs published on social media websites per day?
7. Do you think social media considered effective tools in finding job vacancies?
8. Which Social media platform is more appropriate for job seekers?
9. Do you think Social media helps in selecting the right employee?
10. Qualification Level
11. Have you ever purchased anything from the information you received through social
networking sites?
12. Do you think Social networking sites promote work culture in the company?
13. 13 Are your colleagues connected to you by social media?
The answers to these questions are then collected and interpreted in pie-charts, graphs and bars
and are arranged according to the suitable graphical designs for the easy understandings of the
data analysed. The answers to these questions are preserved and the data associated with persons
remains safe and sound their information is not disclosed by anyone analysing the data (Moser and
Kalton, 2017). The questions are designed such that our research goes relevantly with it. The
answers to these questions are our primary data which will help us in concluding the results from it.
The answers also gave light on the spot about how the Sainsbury's employability gets affected by
the use of social media in its internal as well as external factor (Kazi and Khalid 2012). The pages
and the job publishing sites of Sainsbury's plays an important role in promoting the job offer to the
job seekers around the world it has also been seen that Sainsbury's production has been increased
by the affectivity and efficiency of the workers which are recruited by the advertisements provided
in the social media. The best thing about the social media is that it provides all the knowledge
which is needed by the employer in successfully executing employment of the employee. Survey
also shows that each colleague inside the office is connected to each other in some of the other
45

ways which mean that there is an effective work culture practised in the organisation. Workers use
their social media platform during the office hours, thus sometimes the productivity of the
company decreases.
All the above studies mentioned in the literature review indicates that social media is very
important in providing the benefits in an organisation. The impact of social media on employability
is quite high and it is assumed that social media recruitment will take all the place of HR in near
times (Hughes, 2012). sitaram and Bernardo. (2010) in their study have commented that social
media has become the leader and it also applies a prominent role in providing and promoting the
social contact throughout, social media has also brought the citizens of different cultures, caste and
creed to come together and stand side by side to each other. The newspaper and another mode of
social media have shortened the gaps of promoting and preserving the backgrounds of people and
also promoting the marketing by including the business executives, consultants and many more
together in one platform.
As per Hughes et.al, (2012), the social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat twitter
have impacted social media on the employability effectively. According to Andreas and Michael,
(2009), social media has its effect on the peoples of all age groups ranging from young people to
teen babies and adults; everyone is engaged with the social media in one or the other ways (Ramo
and Prochaska, 2012). Every people are now connected with each other via applications or any
other prevailing social sites.
It is also been studied that employees who used to use the paper resume to give information do
not give the full detail of themselves rather they just get to know the basic details, the unasked
questions like family background, caste, and other questions are found just by analysing the social
profiles of the employees (Keep and James, 2010). Hiring and firing in today's age of social media
46

can be done by effectively engaging with the employer's social profile because the much important
information about the employee is found in his social profile (Dolton et.al, 2012). The studies have
also revealed that unemployment in youth is causing a huge ruckus on the stability of the
employers; they are getting depressed and are becoming unproductive day by day. The employees
who are having the active engagement on social Media are finding new job vacancies on their
timelines; they trigger themselves to get the jobs found to them by social media (Sadler et.al,
2010). It is also seen that there is need to understand the problem of unemployment and all the
necessary steps are needed to be taken and moreover more engaged participation is needed from
the employer and employee parts.
The employees hired through social media are proving productive, they possess all the
qualifications which are needed by the employer, it has been seen that changing trends in
employment has also affected the role of employers (Bauermeister et.al, 2012). Nowadays external
agencies also hire the employees and send them for working in the organisations it has been seen
that workers sent by the agencies lack the skills and hence it is suggested that employers should be
started with the efficient use of social media in the recruitment process.
The social media is now days giving many contributions to the employment sector, the online works
and all the freelancers have bridged the economic misbalances and have made the things quite
easier (Hijzen et.al, 2011). The employability increased with the increment of social Media in past
times. The skills and other development programmes have made the employees skilled. The
persons from remote areas who are not able to get access of the notice boards of the companies
can get the access of the job vacancies by looking at the notifications provided by the company’s
social media pages (Morse, 2010). It has also been studied that the introduction of social media has
changed the way of work which was used to be done in past times.
47

The data collected for research has also lighted the facts such as the use of social media during
office hours. Actually, the use of social media is good but it is not good to use this social media
during the office hours because person engaged in using chat platforms will deviate the mind of the
worker and he will lack the productivity (Marshall, 2010).
48

CONCLUSION
Social networking has been effectively positive in linking the social capital structures on the
employability. In this paper, we have studied the role of social networking sites in providing the job
opportunities and also explore its implications on the dynamics of employment. In this research
paper we have studied that unemployment is a crucial factor which is prevailing all over the regions
and zones, the person who is unemployed gets depressed, sad and he lacks his skills and becomes
unproductive, Social media has acted like a boon in providing the job opportunities and also have
proved beneficial in providing the skilled workforce to the employers. The survey conducted on
Sainsbury's employees have also responded that social media acts as an effective tool in providing
the basic employability. In our study, it is observed that employers are hiring the peoples who have
an effective social profile. The employees of the social profile which is free from all evidence of
drugs, bad character and unprofessionalism are hired. Social media has also helped employers in
providing the personal details of the employee, unlike traditional paper-based resumes which gives
only the basic details of the person; employer can get the personal details of the employee like his
caste, family background, educational misconducts and any other detail which is very necessary to
find out about the employment of the employee.
It is recommended that the organisation must have an active engagement in social media
campaigns. The activity done by social media is very effective in generating employment. The
company which is lacking the productivity is needed to make the advertorials containing the
effective advertisements and graphics. There is need of an approach to models for the successful
executions of the employee in the organisations. It can also be concluded that the data collected
from the Sainsbury’s Employee clearly depicts that they are an active user of social networking sites
and they use Facebook more, thus it is recommended that the adverts which are campaigned for
49

the execution of employment in the organisation must be promoted onto the Facebook, Facebook
hits a large number of peoples and also in effective ways. The Job vacancies or opportunities
advertised on the social media platform Facebook will reach to the person in the remote area, the
person interested in the job will have look on the job vacancies will prepare him to enter in the
organisations. it can also be concluded that job creation is the work of HR department but the
execution of that job into employment is done by the employer who nowadays uses the social
media platforms for the execution of the work.
Thus it can be concluded that impact of social media on employability is nowadays affecting many
organisations and they are getting the skilled workers for the execution of the work.These skilled
workers are increasing the productivity of the company and in this ways, social media is proving to
be very effective.
50

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