The ambassadorship potential of employees: Examining the impact of work-related social media posts on consumer attitudes and behaviors

Abstract

Employees’ work-related social media posts can serve as persuasive sources of organizational information. Limited research has shown, however, how such posts shape consumers’ evaluations of organizations. Across two experiments, we examine the impact of employees’ social media posts on consumers’ evaluations of the corporate reputation and their behavioral intentions toward the organization. The first experiment studies the role of work-related posts’ valence (positive vs. neutral vs. negative) and context (crisis vs. no crisis). A follow-up experiment exclusively considers positive posts, examining whether the external impact of employee ambassadorship differs depending on employees’ motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) to serve as organizational advocates. Results from the first experiment show that both negative and positive work-related posts substantially influence consumer attitudes and behaviors toward organizations, both under routine and crisis circumstances. The second experiment’s findings show that positive work-related posts are equally effective in intrinsically motivated (i.e., spontaneous) and extrinsically motivated (i.e., paid) circumstances. Organizations can therefore, both in routine and crisis situations, consider ways to stimulate employee ambassadorship on social media.