Navigating the Digital Workplace: The Impact of Social Media Use on Thriving and Job Performance with a Focus on Self-Regulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between social media use, thriving, and job performance given self-regulation as a moderating factor. The increasing social media use by employees in the workplace provides both opportunities and challenges, which may cause its impact on performance outcomes to be highly variable. Moreover, the relationship between social media use and performance outcomes is complex, suggesting that there may be contextual variables influencing the significance of this relationship. Data for this study were collected from 274 academics at Delta State University, Delta State, Nigeria, and subjected to the partial least square [PLS] analytical protocol for structural equation modeling. The PLS results demonstrated that social media use and thriving have a positive and significant link that can be explained partly by the mediational pathway of thriving. Second, self-regulation interaction with social media use triggers thriving, which can be viewed as a significant antecedent of job performance. The study recommended that managers should encourage the regulated use of social media to ensure it stays effective for the realisation of desirable work benefits. This calls for the training of staff to enable them to address conceptions and misconceptions of social media use and develop competencies and strategies for the regulated and productive use of social media applications. Keywords: Learning, Job Performance, Self-Regulation, Social Media, Thriving, Vitality