The double-edged sword of social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: demographical and cultural analyses

Purpose>This exploratory research aims to (1) investigate the bright and dark sides of social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic;(2) explore the impact of demographic factors on social media usage;and (3) assess the effects of cultural dimensions on social media usage.Design/methodology/approach>The data are collected through an online survey. Factors derived from grounded theories and models such as affordance theory and Hofstede's cultural framework were considered. Spearman correlation and nonparametric analysis were used to test the hypotheses.Findings>The results revealed that social media usage was positively associated with healing and affiliation, and negatively associated with self-control. There are also positive associations between social media usage and sharing information related to COVID-19 without verification, perceived reliability of COVID-19 information on social media and relapse. The impact of demographic and cultural factors indicated significant effects of gender, age, marital status, educational level, power distance and collectivism on social media usage, sharing information, perceived information reliability, healing and affiliation.Originality/value>This study contributes to technology affordances by examining social media's positive and negative affordances in a new context (COVID-19 pandemic). From the positive side, this study explores the use of social media for healing and affiliation. As for the negative impact of social media during the pandemic, this study assesses the user's addiction to social media use (relapse) and perception of the social media information reliability and information sharing without verification. It is among few research endeavors conducted in a non-Western country. This study also examines the influence of demographic and cultural factors on social media users. The results provide insights for both researchers and policymakers regarding social media usage.

The double-edged sword of social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: demographical and cultural analyses

Purpose This exploratory research aims to (1) investigate the bright and dark sides of social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic;(2) explore the impact of demographic factors on social media usage;and (3) assess the effects of cultural dimensions on social media usage. Design/methodology/approach The data are collected through an online survey. Factors derived from grounded theories and models such as affordance theory and Hofstede's cultural framework were considered. Spearman correlation and nonparametric analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results revealed that social media usage was positively associated with healing and affiliation, and negatively associated with self-control. There are also positive associations between social media usage and sharing information related to COVID-19 without verification, perceived reliability of COVID-19 information on social media and relapse. The impact of demographic and cultural factors indicated significant effects of gender, age, marital status, educational level, power distance and collectivism on social media usage, sharing information, perceived information reliability, healing and affiliation. Originality/value This study contributes to technology affordances by examining social media's positive and negative affordances in a new context (COVID-19 pandemic). From the positive side, this study explores the use of social media for healing and affiliation. As for the negative impact of social media during the pandemic, this study assesses the user's addiction to social media use (relapse) and perception of the social media information reliability and information sharing without verification. It is among few research endeavors conducted in a non-Western country. This study also examines the influence of demographic and cultural factors on social media users. The results provide insights for both researchers and policymakers regarding social media usage.

Single-rating, multi-rating 360° performance management and organizational outcomes: evidence from the UAE

PurposeThis study is an academic attempt to bridge the gap between Western theories and the under-researched non-western contexts by studying the characteristics of traditional and modern performance management systems (PMSs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Drawing on the expectancy theory, this study aims to discuss the significant causal relationship between the implementation of single-rating, multi-rating 360° performance management (PM) and organizational outcomes such as trust, commitment, satisfaction and intention to leave.Design/methodology/approachUsing the self-reported measures and survey method, data were collected from 439 employees from different organizations across the UAE. Explanatory factor analysis, simple linear regression and multi-group were used to test the proposed conceptual model and examine the mediation and moderation impact.FindingsThe study explored the best-practices attributes of the traditional single-rating, multi-rating 360° PM within a non-western context. This study also provides empirical evidence on the significant role of uncertainty avoidance and power distance orientation as a mediator between the relationship between these PMSs and trust, commitment, job satisfaction and intention to leave. Finally, this paper examined the effect of many demographic variables (such as gender, age, industry type […]) on the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables.Originality/valueThis study extends research on PM theories and models. Another important aspect of this study is that its model has been tested on the UAE’s data, an underrepresented geographic region in the management literature. Given all the PM’s positive characteristics, the way that this feedback is viewed and interpreted by employees may be moderated according to the employee’s management level, age, gender and many other demographics.