Social Media Use and Its Impact Among Employees of Electronic Companies in Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to examine the extent of social media use by employees at Samsung Electronics, the purposes for which they use social media and its effect on their performance. Specific objectives of this study included; to find out the extent of social media use by sales employees in Samsung Electronics Company in Kenya, to investigate the purposes for which sales employees use social media in Samsung Electronics Company in Kenya, to explore how the use of social media impacts the performance of employees in electronic companies in Kenya. A descriptive survey design was adopted in conducting this study. A Census sampling technique was applied to include all the targeted 110 sales employees of Samsung Company in Nairobi in the final sample. The primary quantitative data were collected by use of closed ended questionnaires. Frequency counts, percentages, weighted averages, Pearson’s correlation and simple regression analysis techniques were was used to analyse the collected data. The study established that WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram were the most used social sites with majority of the respondents indicating that they used them for less than 1 hour a day while at work. The employees at Samsung Electronics were to a large extent using social media on making friends and receiving and sending messages. A negative correlation between employee performance and use of Social Media was established. Finally the regression analysis results indicated that use of social media makes a significant contribution to the performance of sales representatives at Samsung Electronics. The study concluded that employees participate in social media in the workplace for both work and non-work related activity. Social media has the potential to allow employees to form collaborations and communities for knowledge creation and sharing, better channels of communication, which enhance employee performance. However, it can draw employees into an addiction that distracts performance as well as straining the organizational resources. The researcher recommends that, Samsung Electronics Company to embrace both traditional and modern ways of communication for effectiveness. Since not all employees acknowledged to using social media for marketing purposes, staff appraisal should also be improved so as to inform on areas of improvement and identify training needs/gaps, Samsung Electronics Company to encourage its employees to make use of the available social networks for business, Samsung Electronics Company continuously but periodically undertakes to review the communication channels used. The results of such surveys must then be made available to all employees as a form of feedback mechanism. It is also recommended that Samsung Electronics Company improves the communication management initiatives as forms of employee motivation programs. This way it will attract, retain and manage talent which will in turn increase on performance levels among the Samsung Electronics Company staff.