Engaging Employees via Digital Technologies : An Integrative Model of Change Management and Communication via Internal Social Media

Abstract

Internal social media (ISM) has increasingly gained relevance as a networking platform on which employees can share content and actively engage in conversations across functions, regions, and hierarchical levels. Many employees have been working from home, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a variety of ISM platforms—a trend that could continue to increase. While the COVID-19 pandemic is only one example of how organisations must continuously change to adapt to a new context, research shows that it is difficult for management to implement changes successfully among employees, and most change initiatives fail. ISM provides a dynamic and interactive communication arena in which employees can participate in sharing ideas and opinions related to their daily work. However, theoretical efforts to explain the use of ISM in a change situation from an employee perspective are currently limited. This chapter aims to propose a theoretical framework—co-creating organisational change in ISM—that explains factors influencing participative and dialogic change communications between managers and employees using ISM.