Understanding digital employee advocacy A study into working professionals’ perspective on advocating activities, motivations and challenges

During the past years, employees have been assigned an influential role in constructing corporate reputation. This is due to the rise of social media, which enables all stakeholders to easily and rapidly create and spread stories, and the increasing trust of the general public in information coming from employees. Employees in this influential role are often referred to as advocates, advocating on behalf of the company they work for. Whereas before the rise of social media, employee advocacy was limited to face-to-face communication in which employees recommend the company’s goods, services, and organization, today digital employee advocacy serves as a way to externally represent the company to a large online audience. However, research into digital employee advocacy, especially the motivations behind this behavior, is relatively scarce. Previous research into the topic mostly focused on the business perspective on the practice, making use of quantitative approaches and standardized questions to describe and explain employees’ advocating behavior. In order to further develop the understanding of the workings of digital employee advocacy, the aim of this research was to study the employee perspective on digital employee advocacy. By conducting 20 in-depth interviews with working professionals who have experience with using their personal social media accounts to advocate on behalf of an employer, this research uncovered what online activities account as digital advocacy in the eyes of employees, the motivations behind their engagement in digital advocacy, and the challenges they face with using their personal social media accounts to advocate on behalf of an employer. The findings of this research show that digital employee advocacy is a heterogeneous construct, particularly based on employees’ varying preference between the found online advocating activities (e.g. liking, reposting, creating) and used social media platforms to advocate on (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram). Moreover, it was found that digital employee advocacy intertwines the personal and organizational in terms of the perceived shared interest in the matter, and the merge of personal and professional identities and reputations. In order to manage this merge, employees prioritize identification with the organization they advocate on behalf of, and the content that they share with their social media accounts. Further, the findings of this research demonstrate a thin line between encouragement and surveillance when it comes to employers’ interference in employees’ online behavior. Besides serving as a foundation for future research on the topic of digital employee advocacy, the practical implications of this research can serve as guidelines for employers wanting to encourage and support digital employee advocacy.