Twittering about Digital Human Resource Management:Digital field development in the context of social media

Abstract

Social media have revolutionized communication for individuals and organizations, redefining the spatial-temporal framework of interactions and amplifying diverse voices. However, their impact on institutional fields, i.e., communities of actors who interact frequently and share a common meaning system, has received little attention. To address this, I propose the term "digital field" to describe institutional fields that emerge within social-media contexts. To enhance understanding of digital fields, I study the development of a digital field centered around the issue of digital Human Resource Management (digital HRM) on Twitter. Digital HRM involves the use of digital technologies to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and strategic orientation of HRM, offering a rich context for investigating digital fields.

This dissertation comprises three essays. Essay 1 underscores the significance of incorporating online data alongside traditional qualitative and quantitative data for the study of HRM phenomena. It also introduces analytical methods like network-text analysis. The empirical part of the dissertation leverages social-media interactions and discourse among 473 individual and organizational actors within the identified digital HRM field on Twitter, generating 818,302 tweets and retweets, and 93,626 dyadic relationships based on their retweets.

Essay 2 examines the relational structure of the digital HRM field through retweet interactions that facilitate the flow of information, identifying four roles played by key actors: information leader, information disseminator, information broker, and information influencer. It also reveals the fluid and permeable nature of digital fields, with leading actors often coming from outside the boundaries of the field and assuming multiple roles.

Essay 3 delves into the social-media discourse of these actors, identifying three discursive practices: i) raising awareness of digital HRM, ii) advocating digital technologies, and iii) practicing digital HRM using Twitter as a tool. It also reveals that field actors use various discursive practices simultaneously to try to create favorable meanings aligned with their interests.

This dissertation makes several contributions. First, it offers a fresh approach to studying HRM phenomena using social-media data and methods that combine computational and qualitative traditions. Second, it sheds light on the relational structure and discursive practices that define the digital HRM field on Twitter, emphasizing its fluidity, permeability, and emergence of novel central actors. Third, it advances HRM research by identifying a broader set of actors and practices shaping the development of digital HRM through relational and discursive means.