Employees’ proactiveness on enterprise social media and social consequences: An integrated perspective of social network and social exchange theories

• Published in: Information & management 2023-09, Vol.60 (6), p.103843, Article 103843
• Main Authors: Luqman, Adeel, Zhang, Qingyu, Hina, Maryam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coworker envy; Enterprise social media; Leader-member exchange (LMX); Leadership emergence; Proactiveness; Team-member exchange (TMX)
• ISSN: 0378-7206; 1872-7530
• DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2023.103843

This study delves into how employee proactiveness on enterprise social media can influence social outcomes at work, both positively and negatively. Drawing on social network and social exchange theories, we develop a model to understand how virtual proactiveness is perceived by leaders and coworkers. Using a round-robin design, we collected data from 281 respondents in 56 teams across three waves. The results show that affiliative and challenging proactiveness positively relate to leader-member and team-member exchanges. However, challenging proactiveness negatively affects team-member exchange, potentially leading to coworker envy. These findings shed light on the intricate social dynamics in remote working environments. •Comparative study reveals impact of proactiveness in virtual teams, exploring affiliative & challenging types on ESM dynamics.•Theoretical model elucidates perceptions & responses to proactiveness on ESM within virtual-working environments.•Positive associations found between affiliative/challenging proactiveness on ESM with leader & team exchanges.•Challenging proactiveness inversely linked to team-member exchange, potentially arousing coworker envy.