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The Effects of Social Media on Young Professionals’ Work Productivity: A Case on Ghana

Authors:
chris_tabi@hotmail.com
chris_tabi@hotmail.com
chris_tabi@hotmail.com
  • Amity University Dubai

Abstract and Figures

The study surveyed 488 young professionals to examine the relationships between social media and productivity in the workplace. Drawing on Users and Gratification theory, random samples were taken from the study group between the ages of 18-35 years. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between productivity at the workplace and social media. However, the impact appears to be related to certain specific uses. Networking, finding information as well as knowledge sharing and exchanging appear to have a higher impact on the professional enhancement of the young professionals. Also the results show that more females (64%) than male (36%) are influenced by social media sites in the professional discharge of their duties. In addition, respondents indicated that social media is a catalyst for the enhancement of their professional development. The study concludes that organizations should take advantage of the strengths in social media use and develop appropriate policies at workplace that will govern the use of social media sites to gain competitive advantage. Key words: social media, social network, young professionals
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JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
29
Journal of American Academic Research
JAAR Publishing Center
San FranciscoCAUSA
http://www. american-journals.com
ISSN: 232 8 - 1227
(Print)
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
ARTICLE
The Effects of Social Media on Young Professionals’ Work Productivity:
A Case on Ghana
Amponsah, C.T.,Ph.D. & Assistant Professor, U.A.E.
Ganga Bhavani, Ph.D. & Assistant Professor,
Manipal University, U.A.E
Abstract
The study surveyed 488 young professionals to examine the relationships between social media and
productivity in the workplace. Drawing on Users and Gratification theory, random samples were taken
from the study group between the ages of 18-35 years. The results indicate that there is a positive
relationship between productivity at the workplace and social media. However, the impact appears to be
related to certain specific uses. Networking, finding information as well as knowledge sharing and
exchanging appear to have a higher impact on the professional enhancement of the young professionals.
Also the results show that more females (64%) than male (36%) are influenced by social media sites in
the professional discharge of their duties. In addition, respondents indicated that social media is a catalyst
for the enhancement of their professional development. The study concludes that organizations should
take advantage of the strengths in social media use and develop appropriate policies at workplace that will
govern the use of social media sites to gain competitive advantage.
Key words: social media, social network, young professionals
Introduction
In the last three decades employers, researchers and academicians have been concerned about the
determinants of their employee productivity and organizational performance (Levinson, Price, Munden, &
Solley, 1962; Rousseau, 2004; Haunschild, 2011). Consequently, any activity that can diverge workplace
productivity has attracted the attention of practitioners and researchers. Social Media Sites (SMS) such as
Facebook.com, LinkedIn, Myspace.com and Twitter.com – have become popular and integral part of
everyday communications. Albeit anecdotal, the phenomenon has speculatively been considered to have
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30
diverse effects on users both young and adults (WSIS, 2012; Dryer, 2010; Omorogbon, 2004; Schuppan,
2009; Panos and UNDP, 2009; Singh, Veron‐Jackson, & Cullinane, 2008) particularly on their work
performance.
In response to the ever-increasing penetration rate of social media services and the fierce
competition among new entrants and incumbents, new business models emerge regularly, where firms
blend unique technologies and business models to build competitive advantages (Godes, Mayzlin, Chen,
Das, Dellarocas, Pfeiffer, 2005; Godes Godes, Ofek, & Sarvary, 2009; Gnyawali, Fan, & Penner, 2010).
As a result vast majority of young professionals are enticed to and engage in the use of the social media
sites for different purposes. For example, Pew Research (2012) reports that nearly two-thirds of American
young adults (65%) use social media sites, and the number has been increasing tremendously over the
years. Age is said to be strongly correlated with social media usage with those between the ages of 18 to
35 being the most likely users of social media by a considerable margin. It is not surprising therefore that
many studies show over 90% of young adults use social media today, compared with 12% in 2005, a 78-
percentage point increase. At the same time, there has been a 69-point bump among those ages 30-49,
from 8% in 2005 to over 77% today (Pew Research, 2015).
Despite its growing popularity and strong theoretical foundations, the empirical evidence is not
robust about the consequences that the use of such social media sites have on the work productivity of
young professionals. Rather, empirical evidence abound on amount of time teens spend online (Gross,
2004), lack of parental control over teenage internet use (Wang, Bianchi & Raley, 2005), privacy and
risky behavior such as sexting, cyberbullying, “Facebook depression,” and exposure to inappropriate
content (O'Keeffe, Clarke –Pearson, 2011). Other scholars also critique the tendency for the mass media
and some scholars to fuel “moral panics” regarding youth online (boyd, 2007; Herring, 2007), pointing
out that the incidence of harm to the youth resulting from internet use is actually very low. Moreover, a
survey conducted by Wang et al. (2005) suggests that parental awareness of, and involvement with their
children’s internet use are increasing, compared to earlier decades when internet-illiterate adults often had
little idea what their tech-savvy offspring were doing online.
On the influence of social media usage on productivity at the workplace, results are mix with
some pointing to positive effects and others negative. For example, Gaudin (2009) claims that it has
become a compulsive habit for employees to visit their profiles several times in a day checking on
friends’ updates, changing status, and commenting on others photos and videos with the attendant time
sacrifices and diversion of employees’ attention from the office work. Similarly, a study conducted by
Nucleus Research with 237 corporate employees shows 183 (77%) of them use Facebook during work
hours which results in 1.5% drop in employee productivity for those companies allowing full access to
social network sites (Gaudin, 2009).
Some research outcomes produce positive and interesting social media inputs particularly studies
relating the intersection of public affairs and social media marketing (Terblanche, 2011), online
communities (Jones, Watson, Gardner, & Gallois, 2004; Bateman, Gray & Butler, 2010), government
activities (Waters and Williams, 2011), political campaign and the development of opinion leaders
(Crittenden, Hopkins & Simmons, 2011) or individual customer behavior (Thomas, 2004; Hughner,
McDonagh, Prothero, Shultz, Clifford, & Stanton, 2007; Leskovec, Adamic & Huberman, 2007; Büttner
and Göritz, 2008; Zhao et al., 2008; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
This study therefore examines the ambidextrous concerns in the use of social media on the
performance of young professionals and productivity. The examination of the concerns require careful
consideration of questions such as the impacts of the use of social media amongst young professionals,
what do the young professionals use the social media for and why do the young professionals focus on the
use of social media site that much? In the main, the objective is to investigate the extent to which social
media use impacts work productivity and development of young professionals. Within the broader
framework the study is theoretically situated within the context of the uses and gratification research
traditions on which the social science type theories were founded. Research on social networking has
been conducted in the past by different researchers but there is no known study on the impacts on work
place productivity and professional developments in emerging economies. Many local studies have been
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conducted in recent times in developing countries but little focus on African countries and particularly the
Ghanaian situation (Danquah, 2011, Zooga & Nkomo, 2016). Overall our investigation is a response to
the “clarion call” to management researchers to bring Africa in the discourse of management research
(George, Corbishley, Khayesi, Haas & Tihanyi, 2016) thereby obliterating the paucity of empirical
evidence for guiding business executives and policy makers on the road ahead to development. We seek
to bridge this gap and to add knowledge to the existing literature.
In the sections that follow, we present a brief review of literature after which the methodology is
described. The results are then presented and discussed and finally concluding remarks given.
Theory and Hypotheses
This section discusses the uses and gratification as the theory within which this study is grounded
in an attempt to examine the impact that uses of social media has on young professionals’ work
productivity. It provides a review of existing literature on Social Media sites with a look of how it has
evolved overtime, the benefit and downside, the consequences on work productivity and presents the
hypotheses for the study.
The Uses and Gratification Theory
The uses and gratification (U and G) theory is concern with goal oriented attitude of media users.
The theory posits that users actively select and use media to satisfy their individual needs from a variety
of media choices (West and Turner, 2004; Katz, Gurevitch & Haas, 1973). The theory originally
propounded by Katz, studies the gratifications or benefit that attract and hold audiences to various types
of media and the type of content that satisfy their social and psychological needs (O’Donohoe, 1994:
Dunne, Lawlor, & Rowley 2010). Dunne et el (2010) argue that the U and G theory emphasis on an
audience study perspective of media communications study other than from the perspective of the effects
of media exposure on audiences. It shifts the emphasis in communication studies to the question of “What
do people do with media?” from the question of “What does media do to people?” (Severin & Tankard,
1997).
Accordingly, the U and G suggest that media users play an active role in choosing and using the
media for purposes that satisfy their expectations. Although employees have the choices to make at the
work place they hold accountable of their time to their employers. Therefore, as the use of social media
sites become even more prevalent, it is not uncommon to understand that employers need to consider how
social media sites are likely to impact their organizations.
Fallen out of favor with some mass communication scholars for several decades and revived by the
advent of telecommunication technology, Ruggiero (2000) articulates that the U and G theory has been
applied to a variety of mass media and media content, with the selection of media type evolving to match
the dominant or emerging media of the day.
Rubin (2002) notes that U and G research has tended to focus on one of six major topical areas.
These areas include; linking the media-use motives with media attitudes and behaviors, comparing
motivations across media forms, examining the different social and psychological circumstances of media
use, evaluating the link or indeed difference between gratifications sought (GS) and gratifications
obtained (GO), exploring whether variations in backgrounds affect behavior and attributes and finally,
consideration of the methods, reliability and validity of measuring motivation (Rubin, 2002). Of these six
areas, the concept of GS versus GO has been relatively neglected (Rubin, 2002)
Despite the criticisms, and the calls for “more comprehensive and theoretically integrated
models” O’Donohoe, (1994. p55), the theoretical lens of U and G theory is found appropriate for this
study. Its use is also in response to the call for the application of the U and G theory to New Media
research such as the internet and mobile phone (Grant, 2005; Rubin, 2002; Ruggiero, 2000) and (Grant
and O’Donohoe, 2007).
Social Media and Young Professional
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Social Media refers to all forms of electronic communication such as web sites for social
networking and micro blogging, through which users create online communities to share information,
ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos), Merriam Webster Dictionary, (2013). This is in
line definition presented by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) with a claim that “Social media is a group of
internet based application that build on the ideological and technical foundations of web 2.0, and allows
the creation and exchange of user generated content” p.61. Taprial and Kanwar (2012) also shares the
same view, by indicating that “all web based applications which allow for creation /exchange of user-
generated and enable interaction between the users can be classified as Social Media which could be in
the form of Social Networking Sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Google plus, linkedIn, blogs, internet
forums, bookmarking sites, online community sties and Q & A sites.
As Social Media use has become very important for various aspects of life, improving social
interaction, business marketing, Governance, Political and National development, it is vital to also
understand how its use can be positively harnessed for professional development. Underscoring the fact
that youth referred to as digital natives (Prensky, 2001), are very savvy with the use of internet
technologies especially social media, it gives good reason to explore the consequences that Social Media
have on the professional development especially when the current cohort of young people are gradually
growing up into the working class, bearing in mind that there is concern about its effects on productivity
at work (Skeels & Grudin, 2009).
Boyd & Ellison (2007), noted that social media sites allow individuals to (1) construct a public or
semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a
connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the
system”p.211. They further suggest that the nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from
site to site. This definition compares with O’Reilly, 2007’s view which articulates Social Network Sites
as “ a part of a suite of web applications, also called Social Media, which utilize Web 2.0 principles” Ahn
(2011 p.1435). O’Reilly (2007) further explains that “Web 2.0 define websites that are designed to (a)
rely on the participation of mass groups of users rather than centrally controlled content providers, ( b)
aggregate and remix content from multiple sources , and (c) more intensely network users and content
together”(Ahn 2011 p 1435). The adoption of these definitions is appropriate as it presents Social
Network Sites as a subset of Social Media and presents the opportunity for the research to explore all
forms of Social Media used by the respondents. Social Networking represents an act of engagement of
people with common interests associate together and builds relationships through community (Cohen,
2009; Hartshorn, 2010).
Acknowledging the position of Ahn (2011) that, it is difficult to establish clear and concrete age
boundaries for children, adolescent and youth, this study establishes a strong linkage between the term
youth and young. This position is backed by the observation of Ito, Baumer, Bittanti, boyd, Cody & Herr-
Stephenson (2009) that the terms children, adolescent and youth are “socially and culturally constructed
labels”, thus the study establishes its own age range for the term Young Professional ranging from 18 –
35 years. The operational definition of young professional in this study therefore is a person within the
age bracket of eighteen to thirty-five years (Akyeampong, Djangmah , Oduro, Seidu & Hunt, 2007) and
who belong to a self-regulating occupational group capable of legally prohibiting others from practicing
and as described by Brincat & Wilke (2000), as one who possess the attributes of group identity, shared
education, training (requirements for admission), special, uncommon knowledge used in the service of
others (positive social need), involves individual judgment, some autonomy in decision making,
adherence to certain values and suffers penalties for substandard performance.
Work Productivity
In general, productivity of an employee is measured in terms of labor hours spent by him/her on
the given task. Bernolak (1997) defined productivity as how much and how well employee produces from
the given resources. Productivity also expresses the relationship between the output of goods and services
(real output) and the various inputs required for production such as labour and capital. Two important
productivity indicators used are: labour productivity, that is, the ratio of real output to labour input, and
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capital productivity, the ratio of real output to stock of fixed capital used in the production process.
However, these indicators are limited in the sense that they indicate the influence of only one factor of
production at a time on productivity. An improvement over these partial indicators is the multifactor
productivity which takes into account the simultaneous influences of several factors on production,
including qualitative factors such as better management, improved quality of inputs and higher quality of
goods. Collective we use a multifactor productivity to be able account for the overall productive efforts of
the worker. Consequently, Multifactor productivity (MFP)/Total factor productivity (TFP) index shows
the rate of change in “productive efficiency”, and is obtained as the ratio of the output to a weighted
combination of labour and capital inputs. The limitation of partial productivity measures is that they
attribute to one factor of production, changes in efficiency that are attributable to other factors. MFP
reflects many influences including qualitative factors such as better management and improved quality of
inputs through training and technology.
Global Usage of Social Media in Africa and in the Ghanaian Contest
Global internet usage for the period 2000-2012 grew at a rate of 566.4% with Asia having the
largest usage. Despite challenges faced, Internet use in Africa has also been growing with a record
3,606.7% from 2000-2012 (an increase from 30,000 internet users as at December 2000 to 3,568,757 as at
June 2012). The growth is so profound especially the Facebook whose subscription as at 2012 stood at
1,630,420 (Intent World Stats, 2003). Facebook use worldwide also increased from 664,032,460 users as
of March 2011 to 835,525,280 users by March 2012 (Intent World Stats, 2003). The situation is not
different for Ghana as asserted in the online African Business Journal that Ghana is among the countries
with exploding social media presence with Facebook the most visited website above local news sites than
even search engine giant Google. Blogging is also becoming increasingly popular in the country.
Big users of Social Media (SM) worldwide include educational institutions and businesses
enterprises. This they use for teaching, learning and marketing purposes (Moran, Graham, & Blomstrom,
2011; Taprial & Kanwar, 2012). Politicians have also used social media platforms for political messaging
and campaigning (Rainie, Smith, Schlozman, Brady, & Verba, 2012; Safranek, 2012). With the global
growth in landscape (emergence of new platforms) and audience (increasing users) coupled with more
people using mobile app on “smartphone and tablets to access social media” (Nielsen & Schrøder, 2014)
many people spend longer periods on the internet (Taprial & Kanwar, 2012). Social Media use has
become an integral part of our daily lives (Nielsen, 2012), however, people connect to social media for
various reasons and purposes and feel positive, negative and neutral after use.
A lot of scholarly activities have focused on various aspects of Social Media to understand its
nature and use, the behavior of users, why the use, its effects (positive and negative) on various aspects of
our lives. Areas explored in relation to its effects include the negative and positive effects of Social Media
on Children, Adolescents, and Youth as well as its effects on business and productivity at work amongst
others. Others have also looked at how Social Media could be used to promote and improve teaching and
learning and promote business more positively (Kietzmann & Angell, 2011). It appears that little effort
has been made to explore how social media has influenced the professional development of young
professionals. This is especially so in a county such as Ghana where there is substantive use of Social
Media amongst its young populace. In order to help bridge the gap, this study focuses on Social Media
use amongst young Ghanaians professionals and its impact on their Professional enhancement.
Beneficial Effects of Social Media
The usage of social media is as varied as the organizations themselves. Most people think that
social media sites are time – wasters ; however, a number of studies have shown just the opposite.
Using social media sites may actually be beneficial at organizational level, group level and individual
level where it has been used tremendously for businesses, personal development, and national advances.
Organizational Level
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At the organizational level, businesses have benefited much from social media by way of being
used for different tools, features and advertising opportunities available that help grow both big and small
companies to new heights. Social media sites have been explored for the purposes of collecting and
collating information and leveraging the power of social media for new business opportunities (Wilson,
2009). Wilson (2009) claim that Social media sites have been used as marketing strategies and maintain
organizational presence in the industry. From human resources standpoint, potential employees have been
reach through the use of social media at relatively cheaper or no cost. Some employers at present rely on
social media sites for recruitment process to reduce recruiting costs, and bunch of curriculum vitae
generated by job boards can be lessen. Social media tools can facilitate job applicants to their assessment
procedures. A survey conducted for CareerBuilder.com found 45% of employers were utilizing social
media to screen potential employees, more than double from the years earlier. Eisele (2006) asked 1,000
biggest organizations in Germany about their experiences with Internet and recruitment. He found out that
67% saw the use of web - based solutions as an improvement of their recruitment processes, 49% of them
practiced it and achieved lower recruitment costs. It also shows that the use of some form of e-recruitment
methods reduced the hiring costs about 87% in comparison to common traditional recruitment tools like
newspapers (Lee, 2005; Cober Cober, Brown, Blumental & Levy, 2001). Thus, it is generally accepted
that using social media sites for recruitment can make an outstanding impact to the reduction of the
recruitment costs and employee productivity as well. From the discussions above, we hypothesize that:
H1= Social media has positive effects on young professionals work productivity at
organizational level.
Group Level
On marketing front, many affiliates and online sellers rely on social media for reputation building
and make it easier to earn the trust of buyers. Compared to random selling on the internet, one can create
an account and develop a personality to cater to specific needs of individuals. At group level social media
has been used extensively for learning and professional development across the enterprise. As indicated
by Kietzmann, Silvestre, McCarthy, Leyland & Pitt (2012), the more ‘social’ one’s network becomes, the
bigger the group of consumers, friends, followers and contacts. With the combination of the growth of
social media offerings, this leads to a tremendous number of identities online, as people belong to any
number of communities. We therefore pose the second hypothesis as:
H2= Social media promotes team work within the organization
Individual Level
A number of studies show that employees who use social media sites are 9% more productive than
those who do not (Fahmy, 2009). Employees who are more social by nature and are connected to other
people through social media sites are better persons in the workplace, which means they are skilled at
interacting with others and solving problems. Fahmy, (2009), found that 70% who used internet for
personal surfing resulted in sharpened employee’s concentration. It is assumed that by taking short
breathers, the brain will be refreshed and renewed. In a related development, AT& T (2008), a company
that sells internet connection services, conducted an independent survey of 2,500 employees in five
European countries. Of employees using social media sites (SMSs), 65% SMSs made themselves more
efficient workers, 46% SMSs gave them more creative and ideas, 38% SMSs helped them gain
knowledge and come up with solutions to problems, 36 SMSs allowed them collect knowledge about
employees and customers, and 32% SMSs created team building opportunities. Employees also reported
that social Media has become part of the culture of their workplace (AT&T, 2008).
Social media platforms are well-known to have features and applications (apps) that make it
easier for individuals to communicate or as it is socialize. Online users still rely on email but there are
other opportunities to share and exchange information quickly. Examples are through chat, direct
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messaging, video chat and video conferencing. People can facilitate and make decisions regardless of the
time and place.
It makes sense therefore to explore and maximize the effects of these benefits for greater use.
Evidence exists of a broad range of benefits to young people associated with the use of Social Network
Sites. For example, Collin, Rahilly, Richardson & Third (2011) outline some benefits that include media
literacy, formal educational outcomes, informal education and learning, creativity, individual identity and
self-expression, strengthening social relationships, belonging and collective identity, building and
strengthening communities, civic and political participation, self-efficacy and wellbeing.
The benefits of Social media use go beyond individuals and businesses. Benefits to governments,
politicians, Non-Governmental Organizations, pressure groups and educational institutions cannot be
overlooked. Just as business benefits by improving their identity, developing and strengthening their
brand, increasing their market and building better relationships with clients, several benefits to the
individual can also be identified. In addition to stay in touch with friends, colleagues and family,
building social capital, increasing social interactions, getting empowered and for personal self-learning as
a result of the ability receive and to share information, making once views heard, and passing on
messages to a wide population, Ellison, Vitak, Gray, & Lampe (2014) and Duggan & Brenner (2013) add
that Social Media has empowered people to speak and be heard. Taprial and Kanwar (2012) provides
example of the LinkedIn platform that has an open membership network, with provision for profiles in
resume – like format and thus encourages professional uses.
Accordingly, we hypothesize that:
H3= Social media is used by individuals for their work productivity
Detrimental Effects of Social Media
Notwithstanding the enormous benefits that can be derived from the use of social media there are
negative issues associated with its use. As intimated by Lenhart & Madden (2007) and Livingstone (2008)
and cited in Baker (2010), while there have been noted benefits associated with SNS use, including new
opportunities for sociability and self-expression, there are also some concerns about its use.
Concerns related to negative peer influence, depression, inappropriate content for adolescents and
youth, loss of privacy, time wasting and abdication, loss of productivity in the workplace, hacking and
protest planning are amongst the issues raised by some Social Media researchers as the down sides to
social media use, O’keeffe & Clarke-Pearson (2011). Whereas substantial evidence exist of the benefits
associated with SNS use, the negative effects have largely been neglected within the discourse of both
academic, social commentators and practitioners. As intimated by Lenhart & Madden (2007) and
Livingstone (2008), while there have been noted benefits associated with SNS use, including new
opportunities for sociability and self-expression, there are also some concerns about its negative use
expeacilly thioe relating to unethical and amoral practices. The above recognition has attracted a lot of
attention of researcher in particular those of emerging economies who have been using social media to
harness ICT as a developmental tool and as a key pillar of their national development agendas. It is
believe that many nations are putting ICT policies in place for implementation and development to
regulate and control the sector (Omoragbon, 2009). Hence, we pose the forth hypothesis as:
H4= Social media affect young professional work ethics within the organization
Method
Sample
The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional approach. Primary data was collected by means
of purposive sampling through questionnaires administered by trained research assistants. A purposive
sample is a non-probability sample that is selected based on characteristics of a population and the
objective of the study (Palys, 2008). The reason for using purposive sampling was to focus on users of
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SNS and their characteristics to enable answer for the questions at stake. Six hundred participants were
targeted for the study, however, 488 young professional who have used social networking sites for over
two years who are professionals with either a first, second or higher academic or professional degree
responded. Of the 600 questionnaires sent out, 569 were received but only 488 were found to be valid,
which represents a response rate of 81.3% deemed adequate to provide statistically significant results.
Procedure
Access to the young professionals was gained by obtaining the telephone numbers and email
addresses from the various professional associations, the Universities and Ghana Civil Services
Association. Afterwards, personal visits were made to those who agreed to take part in the study. Before
the administration of the questionnaire to the respondents it was piloted with a cross section of young
professional within Accra –Tema metropolitan area which are the major industrial cities in Ghana with
dominant social networking usage. The respondents were screened to ensure they were eligible for the
study in accordance with the specified population of young professionals as indicated above. This method
is consistent with the use of purposive sampling often used in mass media where respondents who use a
specific medium are selected and are asked specific questions (Wimmmer and Dominic, 2011).
Measurement of Variables
The questionnaire measured key variables for the study, which included the constructs of social
networking usage regarding its beneficial and detrimental use. As such, parameters used include the
manner in which the social media is considered to be used in professional networking, seeking advice on
what to do in a particular situation (options), seeking direction on what to do in a particular situation
(coaching), knowledge sharing and exchanging, find information, promotion of your personal “brand”,
job seeking, research, engagement discussions and the detrimental use of social media. Others were
related to demographic variables, work productivity and organizational performance.
Demographic Variables and Professional Categorization
Demographic variables included gender, age of respondents, marital status, educational level,
professional category, professional practice, number of years in profession, and number of year of using
SNS. The results of measured characteristics are indicated in Table 1 and 2.
Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
No.
Description
Percentage (%)
1
Gender
Male
48
Female
52
2
Age of respondents
15-20
48
21-30
29
31-35
22
3
Marital Status
Single
89
Married
10
Divorced
1
Widow
0
4
Educational level
First degree
44
Second degree
32
Professional qualifications
23
Other qualification
1
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5
Number of years in Practice
2-4
61
5-10
26
10+
13
6
Length of use of SNS
2-4
12
5-10
64
10+
24
Table 2: Professional Category
Professional category
Percentage (%)
Technical
16
Development practice
12
Health
3
Administration and management
5
Education
6
Marketing
9
Manufacturing
5
Finance
16
Hospitality
4
Others
12
Results of Hypothesis Testing and Analysis
In this study, we examine the impacts of Social media on young professionals. In addition to the
descriptive analysis, the objectives of the study was achieved by running test of all four hypotheses with
13 variables identified for the analysis. A five-point Likert-type scales (1 = strongly disagree to 5 =
strongly agree) was applied to some basic questions framed to align the variables such as user group of
social media variable and a combination of the most used social media platforms. We measured
participants’ usage of SNS by allowing them to indicate the extent of usage whether extensive and
occasions. Test for internal consistency was applied for reliability. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.807 for all
the variables. To identify the main factors 13 variables were identified for this study. In order to extract
the various factors which indicated the social media use, Principal Component Analysis was applied on
all the variables. The Principal Component Analysis extraction method with varimax with Kaiser
Normalization rotation method was used to determine the factor loading and communalities.
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.812 in this study. Similarly,
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity, another indication of strength of the relationship among the variables was
found highly significant at 0.000. The results of the test is shown in table 3.
Table 3: Results of Users of SNS Among Professionals
Extensive
Users
(%)
Occasional
Users (%)
Chi-Square
Test P-
Value
64.9
35.1
0.119
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38
89.8
10.2
0.000
81.5
18.5
0.000
75.0
25.0
0.003
79.4
20.6
0.009
70.5
29.5
0.000
73.7
26.3
0.000
86.9
13.1
0.000
76.8
23.2
0.000
80.2
19.8
0.000
68.0
32.0
0.001
96.1
3.9
0.000
88.2
11.8
0.000
The general inquisition on whether social media use is an important tool or otherwise for
professional enhancement, extensive users (96%) were more likely than occasional users (4%) to agree.
Testing this position, the difference in opinion was not significant at p = 0.10 for the two sided asymp.
significance test. The same situation applies to the questions on their opinion on social media use to
enhancing professional development, and their opinion on whether their professional development
expectations have been met, where the differences are not significant, at p = 0-006 and, p = 0.237
respectively for the two sided Asymp. sig test.
However, this does not suggest that Social Media use does not have an impact on the users. A
further look at user’s opinion in relation to the 13 different types of specific professional uses of social
media as well as the user opinion from the perceptive of age and gender revealed a different trend. Both
occasional and extensive users highly agreed that Social Media use for professional networking and
finding information enhances professional development. This proves the alternate hypothesis (H1) is true
and accepted and null hypothesis is rejected that strengthens that the social media has positive effects on
young professionals work productivity.
There is similarity in opinion among users of Social Media as regards whether use of social media
enhances team work within the organization with regards to information finding and knowledge sharing
and exchanging activities of young professionals. A further look confirmed that both extensive (75%)
and occasional (25%) users agree with the statement that use of social media impacts the knowledge
sharing and exchange activities within team with a significance in difference at p = 0.003 for the two
sided Asymp. sig test. With this the second alternate hypothesis (H2) is proved and null hypothesis is
rejected that means social media promotes team work within the organization.
On the other hand, there is an opinion difference between extensive and occasional users for other
professional uses. Extensive users turn to agree much more than occasional users on the other areas of
uses as shown in table 3.
JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
39
Ninety-six (96) percent of extensive users expressed their opinion positively on work productivity.
The respondents opined that social media improves the work productivity at the organization level which
in turn enhances an unleashing potential. The very minimal percentage response from occasional users for
this question that is only 4 percent, which shows a strong majority is in support of social media which
helps them to improve their work productivity. This proves the third alternate hypothesis “social media is
used for significant improvement of work productivity at the organization level” proved true and accepted.
Results of Factor Analysis
As earlier mentioned a total of 13 variables were identified for the analysis and Principal
Component Analysis was applied. Retaining only those variables which had Eigen value more than 1, a
total of four factors emerged from the analysis. In Table 4 these four factors put together had 54.49
percent of the total variance. Table 5 provides the Correlations among Study Variables.
Table 4: Variance
Component
Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
Total
% of Variance
Cumulative %
Factor 1
2.102
16.272
16.272
Factor 2
2.074
14.458
30.730
Factor 3
1.842
12.980
43.710
Factor 4
2.295
10.782
54.492
Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of and Correlations among Study Variables
JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
40
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Mean
SD
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M7
M8
M9
M10
M11
M12
M13
1
For professional
networking
4.06
.924
1
.267**
.344**
.178**
.214**
.186**
.264*
*
.232**
.288*
*
.262**
.236*
*
.284**
.168**
2
For seeking advice on
what to do in a
particular situation
(options)
4.06
.718
.267**
1
.364**
.198**
.264**
.244**
.380*
*
.241**
.264*
*
.272**
.214*
*
.064
-.021
3
For seeking direction
on what to do in a
particular situation
(coaching)
4.05
.783
.344**
.364**
1
.201**
.260**
.201**
.321*
*
.244**
.315*
*
.280**
.257*
*
.144**
-.004
4
For team
accomplishments
4.32
.741
.178**
.198**
.201**
1
.505**
.405**
.182*
*
.219**
.268*
*
.223**
.328*
*
.162**
.140**
5
For knowledge
sharing and
exchange within
teams
4.21
.741
.214**
.264**
.260**
.505**
1
.542**
.186*
*
.254**
.282*
*
.224**
.422*
*
.089*
.066
6
For seeking facts
and information
within firm
4.13
.724
.186**
.244**
.201**
.405**
.542**
1
.182*
*
.281**
.264*
*
.282**
.525*
*
.206**
.119*
7
For Research which
stimulates
collaboration and
knowledge sharing
4.09
.723
.264**
.380**
.321**
.182**
.186**
.182**
1
.247**
.302*
*
.346**
.255*
*
.044
.057
8
For promotion of
your personal
“brand”/interest
3.98
.854
.232**
.241**
.244**
.219**
.254**
.281**
.247*
*
1
.562*
*
.444**
.274*
*
.248**
.021
9
For job seeking
4.10
.808
.288**
.264**
.315**
.268**
.282**
.264**
.302*
*
.562**
1
.540**
.276*
*
.210**
.085*
10
For professional
development
4.08
.834
.262**
.272**
.280**
.223**
.224**
.282**
.346*
*
.444**
.540*
*
1
.289*
*
.181**
.067
11
For personal
discussions
4.16
.779
.236**
.214**
.257**
.328**
.422**
.525**
.255*
*
.274**
.276*
*
.289**
1
.166**
.055
12
For professional
development,
enhancements and
unleashing potential
3.96
.930
.284**
.064
.144**
.162**
.089*
.206**
.044
.248**
.210*
*
.181**
.166*
*
1
.102*
13
For social advances
(issues of ethical
nature)
4.06
.924
.168**
-.021
-.004
.140**
.066
.119*
.057
.021
.085*
.067
.055
.102*
1
JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
41
After removing the factor loading with less than 0.50, data presented in Table (6) with the communalities.
It can be observed from the table that “For team accomplishments”, “For knowledge sharing and
exchange within teams”, “For seeking facts and information within firm”, and “For personal discussions”
are substantially loaded on Factor 1 this is useful to test H2. However, “For promotion of your personal
“brand”/interest”, “For job seeking”, and “For professional development” are substantially loaded on
Factor 2 while “For professional networking” this is to test H3, “For seeking advice on what to do in a
particular situation (options)”, “For seeking direction on what to do in a particular situation (coaching)”,
and “For Research which stimulates collaboration and knowledge sharing” are substantially loaded on
Factor 3 this is useful to test H1. The remaining variables like social advances (issues of ethical nature)
are substantially loaded on Factor 4 in order to test H4.
Table 6: Principal component factor analysis (Varimax rotation), factor loadings and
communalities for motivational variables
The first factor accounts for 16.27 percent of total variance and explains their motivation to share
information among teams in the competitive environment this proves the alternate hypothesis two is true
that means social media promotes the team work/spirit within the organization. The second factor
explains about 14.5 percent of variance and has to do with personal accomplishments proving the
hypothesis three (H3) can be accepted. The third factor accounts for 13 percent of variance. This factor
signifies the importance of social networking site for the purposes of professional network for seeking
advice and organizational development and accepted the hypothesis one (H1). The last factor shows less
Motivational Factors
Factor
1
Factor
2
Factor
3
Factor 4
Communality
For professional networking
.544
.613
For seeking advice on what to do in
a particular situation (options)
.701
.492
For seeking direction on what to do
in a particular situation (coaching)
.580
.412
For team accomplishments
.601
.520
For knowledge sharing and
exchange within teams
.713
.702
For seeking facts and information
within firm
.764
.554
For Research which stimulates
collaboration and knowledge
sharing
.666
.518
For promotion of your personal
“brand”/interest
.697
.644
For job seeking
.760
.602
For professional development
.612
.498
For personal discussions
.641
.420
For professional development,
enhancements and unleashing
potential
.618
.466
For social advances (issues of
ethical nature)
.741
.517
JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
42
than 10.8 percent of total variance. It reflects the use of the social networking site for unleashing potential
and ethical issues with an acceptance of alternate hypothesis four (H4).
The results show a strong correlation between young professional and Social Media use for
professional development and their expectations met. Microsoft (2012) also explores the professional use
of social networking tool by men women and also suggest although men take full advantage social media,
they use it differently but less often than women. While “women tend to use social tools to communicate
with colleagues and clients, share and review documents” men use social tools to “grow their network
and research competitors” Kimbeasley, (2013).
Conclusions and Recommendations
This research sought to examine the Impact of Social Media and Social Network use on Young
Ghanaian Professionals. Five hundred and sixty-nine professionals who use the social media sites were
recruited for the study. Out of the 569 professionals, 488 (representing 81.3% response rate) Ghanaians
who have worked for 2 to 15 years responded. The study categorizes users in two groups “extensive” and
“occasional” users. The research also categorized nine different types of uses for professional
development purposes. Out of these nine uses of Social Media for professional networking, knowledge
sharing and exchange, information finding and research stood out as the most significantly used.
Results of this research confirm to a large extent the use of Social Media and Social Networks has a
positive impact on young professionals. Women and younger professionals of aged 18-35 years are more
likely to agree to this position and also agree that their professional oriented expectations have been met
through social media. However, the impact appears to be related to certain specific uses. Networking,
finding information as well as knowledge sharing and exchanging appear to have a higher impact on the
professional enhancement of the young professionals.
Extensive users (87%) are more likely than occasional users (39%) to agree with the statement
that use of social media impacts the research activities of professionals. As confirmed by earlier
researchers such as O’keeffe & Clarke-Pearson (2011), concerns related to negative peer influence,
depression, inappropriate content for adolescents and youth, loss of privacy, time wasting and abdication,
loss of productivity in the workplace, hacking and protest planning are amongst the issues raised by some
of the social media uses as down sides to social media use.
The results also show some diversity in opinion in the level of impact in relation to the specific
type of use of the social media network sites and the extent to which they are used. There is a lack of
belief and stigma attached to the Social Media as a professional development tool appears to be the reason
for which many do not use the platform.
The study concludes that creators of the Social Media and Social networking site should note the
findings from this study that when advertising for social and business tools they can attract more audience
to the platform yet users from all age groups and gender may be involved, however, men and older
members tend to use the platform more for business purposes than other demographic groupings.
Targeting marketing could thus render improves results if these points are considered when developing
adverts for use on social media and social networking.
It should also be noted that similarities of interest exist among users. As the networking sites
attract all forms of users concerns were raised by some respondents on controls of users especially
children. This presents an opportunity for developers of the networking sites to insulate the sites from
child users from contents that are not wholesome for children consumption and could create potentially
harmful effect.
Developers and investor should understand their users and to cater for their respective needs as
this study has gone a long way in augmenting the current body of knowledge on the subject matter.
Further work is recommended more specifically a repeated study using a control group of
respondents (comparing a group that uses Social Media for professional enhancement purposes against
one that does not). Obviously, a larger sample size will confirm the findings of this study.
Though others such as Blogger and Digital Web activist Mac-Jordan D. Degadjor (2010) in a presentation
at US Embassy in Accra, describes these negative views as excuses, myths and fears. That leaves more
JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
43
work to be done and require further studies with greater sample size and a wider spectrum of participants
to delve into details into the phenomenon. This contribution therefore adds to an ongoing dialogue about
the importance of social network and social media usage both for practitioners and researchers.
JAAR: Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2017
44
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