Research on social media in organizations has predominantly focused on two essential perspectives. The first perspective is related to investigating the factors influencing social media usage, mainly including the technology, organizational, environmental, and personal factors. The second perspective explores the direct impact of social media usage on job satisfaction and job performance. However, research regarding different aspects of social media usage is still in the initial phase; this is why only a few researchers have examined both aspects of social media usage, namely work-related social media usage and social-related social media usage. Work-related social media usage is also termed as professional use of social media. Similarly, social-related social media usage is also known as personal usage of social media.
The employees’ social media usage at their workplace is an ongoing debate. It is of significant concern for the employees as they fear that such practice can lower their productivity, leading them to unemployment. Restrictions are imposed in organizations to lessen the use of social media at the workplace because higher authorities believe that social media usage can decrease the level of employee commitment to the job and the organization. Therefore, investigating whether social media usage affects the work performance of employees is essential. The present study explores social media usage for both work and social purposes on work performance. This study also clarifies the relationship of extra-role behavior with social media usage and work performance and reveals its path process by investigating the mediating effect of extra-role behaviors on the social media usage (work and social)–work performance relationship.
Based on these discussions, the research questions (RQs) of the study are as follows:
Literature Review
Social medias are web-based services that allow individuals, communities, and organizations to collaborate, connect, interact, and build a community by enabling them to create, co-create, modify, share, and engage with user-generated content that is easily accessible [
9]. Social media has become an integral element of everyday life. Social media fosters open communication, which improves the collection and transmission of information. It also allows employees to exchange resources, discuss ideas, publish news, and ask questions. Additionally, social media allows for expanding relationships and partnerships. These digital platforms provide the ability to boost worker productivity by connecting employees to global resources [
10]. Nowadays, social media is used for obtaining technical help and expressing ideas at work [
11]. The most positive aspect of social media used for work-related is that all the organization’s employees share their experiences on social media [
12].
Moreover, social media users disclose their workplace and environment with the help of social media status or posts. This publicly available data is also a rich source of information for employers as it is critical feedback from the employees [
13]. Social technologies can provide a reliable way for organizations to deal with an information flow that initiates the change in the knowledge management system linked to performance [
14].
Workplace relationships across personal and professional boundaries are expanded by utilizing social technologies represented as social networking sites [
15]. Another study by Taha (2018) explored how employees use social media networks to communicate with family, companions, and different organizations in the working environment, and this is a source of retaining employees, especially fresh recruits [
16]. Social networking sites and applications can be used proficiently to cultivate information-sharing practice in the work environment. Knowledge-sharing culture fosters effective communication, and employee involvement can be enhanced by using social media networking tools [
17]. In another research Holland and his colleagues (2019) highlighted the two benefits of social media usage: Firstly, employees can discuss difficulties faced due to the management at the workplace. The second is that building internal social media at the workplace can connect an employee’s voice on the workplace issues with the management [
18].
Organizational strategies such as information dissemination and two-way symmetrical communication encourage internal social media usage [
19]. Another study revealed the barriers and drivers of knowledge sharing within the organization. Enjoyment in helping others, monetary rewards, management support, management encouragement, and knowledge-sharing behavior we reconsidered the significant drivers of knowledge sharing using social media. In contrast, a lack of trust and change of conduct was regarded as risk [
20]. Enterprise social media is an emerging technology that organizations are embracing as a digital platform that encourages communication between employees. There is a positive relationship between enterprise social media usage and employee agility [
21].
Social networking sites fulfill numerous needs, including networking, communication, recruitment, and sharing knowledge. Social media has five named components: clients’ interest and skills, graphic skills, organizational support, and availability of equipment and the internet. These five components significantly affect the influence of social media and attitudes toward social media [
22]. Addiction to social media has increased at the workplace. The internet is turning into a significant source for online users to look for content or social gratification. If there is no proper control over the use of the internet, it can exacerbate various problems such as depression, sexual disorders, or loneliness in the workplace [
23]. Social media use can be classified into two main categories, namely for personal and work-related purposes. Personal use of social media means using it for enjoyment, playing games, setting social events with co-workers, and other personal activities online. Work-related use of social media may be defined as indulging oneself in online work-related posts, content sharing, discussions, tweeting about the work-related experiences, and communication at the workplace. This use ultimately impacts the extra role behavior of the employees at the workplace [
24].
Cyber slacking is a term used to define social media usage for personal purposes at the workplace. Cyber loafing is also referred to as the behavior of the employees using the internet provided by the organization for personal or non-job purposes at the workplace [
25,
26]. Approximately, employees spend at least 1 h on non-work-related activities, and the most considerable portion of these activities was on the internet. This issue has become a concern for employers. Employers are concerned because they think that social media usage during working hours leads to reduced productivity, leading to financial loss [
27].
When people are stressed and averse to their surroundings, they engage in cyber-slacking as a way to escape [
28]. Individuals that engage in cyber slacking do so to relieve stress and to find enjoyment, both of which are important for psychological well-being [
29]. Gibson (1977) established the concept of “affordance theory,” which is based on the idea that an individual’s perceptions drive their actions. His insightful study of the interactions between people or animals and their living situations is particularly noteworthy. Gibson claimed that an animal or a person observes a thing not for what it is, but for what it might be or what kinds of applications it can accommodate [
30]. The term “affordances” is used in the study to refer to the usefulness of anything. Since Gibson (1977) introduced the concept of affordance, researchers have used the affordance lens to investigate the relationship between social interaction driven by technology advancements in its dynamic [
31] and how new technology may be implemented and improved in terms of design [
32]. Aside from that, another study provided some valuable insights into the corpus of human–computer interaction (HCI) research for practitioners. First and foremost, the findings of that study imply that social connections among workers may be used as a means of reducing cyber slacking in the workplace [
33]. Employees should be given the opportunity to participate in two-way conversations with their managers. For example, to encourage social connection among workers, a manager can consider arranging corporate leisure activities such as eating together, athletic activities, and departmental travel [
34].
The activities included under the work-related usage of social media are creating groups or communities to make connections and interaction with the clients or customers. Similarly, crowd sourcing through social media can generate innovative ideas for products and services. Moreover, widespread marketing programs for creating support community at work, searching for job applicants, searching for job vacancies, starting a business network, acting as a sales channel, and content sharing are considered to be the main aspects of work-related social media usage. It has become challenging for organizations to control and check on their employees’ activities during working hours at the workplace due to the technology-driven environment and the widespread social media usage [
35].
Job-related stress harms the employees’ productivity, and it is also disturbing the employees’ social life. Work-related stress is also a major cause of family imbalance issues in Pakistan [
36,
37]. To reduce job-related stress, employers are more concerned about the workplace environment and effective communication of employees. Recent research suggests that the use of social media for the communication of employees with their families reduces job-related stress at the workplace [
38].
Along with the power of social media and the risk associated with it, employees’ level of expectation is changing, and they feel comfortable using these social sites [
39]. The notion that employees can do their work online is the other primary justification given for the use of social media while at work. The additional logic that is given to using social media for personal tasks is that employees will be happier and more productive if they spend their time on social media for socializing with people online during working hours [
40]. It is a fact that the chance of irregular activity by employees increases by allowing the use of social media for social service. Still, it can be more detrimental for the organization if they completely curb social media for personal use, as it may lead to a lack of engagement and productivity at the workplace [
41]. Organizations may start recognizing the value of social media use by the employees at the workplace if making a social connection and relations are the driver of a contented workplace. This would ultimately lead to increased job satisfaction and productivity [
42]. The ultimate objective of using social media in the workplace is to build social networks. This research reveals the positive effect of social media on the employee’s job performance with a mediating result of organizational structure. Based on these discussions, the following hypotheses of the study are proposed:
H1:Work-related social media usage has a positive and significant impact on work performance.
H2:Social-related social media usage has a positive and significant impact on work performance.
Extra-role behavior refers to all those activities that include some extra effort beyond the mere compliance or maintenance of the employees’ cooperation [
43]. Extra-role behavior plays an essential role in the organization’s effectiveness to run the organization smoothly by affecting its performance. Proactive behavior, creativity, and knowledge sharing are critical extra job role behaviors exhibited by an employee in a workplace [
44].
Proactive behavior is defined as the relatively stable tendency to affect and change the environment. People raised in an aggressive environment or one that has such characteristics are more disposed to alter their circumstances deliberately. Proactive people are actively oriented, searching for knowledge, exploring the environment, and somewhat anticipating the future instead of reacting to the situation [
45]. Knowledge sharing is the term used to define the act of making knowledge available to the people within the organization. The process in which people exchange their expertise and generate new knowledge is known as knowledge sharing. Employees need to fully participate in knowledge sharing to make learning accessible throughout the organization [
46]. Creating new ideas and fueling innovation in organizational products, services, processes, and procedures is known as creativity. Lastly, the capacity of the employee to positively react to change or unexpected conditions is known as adaptivity [
47].
Organizations are increasingly empowering their employees where they are required to do more than their required formal job. The depiction of extra-role behavior increases organization productivity and effectiveness by helping transform innovation and adaptivity. These are voluntary behaviors that are not mentioned or specified in any employment contract; however, they are helpful and are an essential resource for organizational functionality and contribute to an increase in productivity [
48].
Human behavior inside workplaces demands growing flexibility, making working roles, obligations, and responsibilities less rigid. Substantial literature on anticipated worker behaviors has led various researchers [
49,
50] to distinguish between in-role behaviors and actions that went beyond formal duties (extra-role behaviors). The authors of [
51] defined extra-role behaviors as “work behaviors that are not always connected to work necessary tasks but contribute to the social and psychological elements of the organization,” such as “volunteering to carry out task activities that are not technically part of the job and aiding and working with others in the organization to get tasks performed” [
52]. These extra-role actions are a hallmark of an organization’s responsiveness and flexibility when workers “engage in task-related behaviors at a degree that exceeds minimally necessary or commonly expected levels” [
53]. Regarding the role and task fluidity owing to frequent change, and according to the cited literature [
54,
55], we thought it would be beneficial to assess the influence of social media usage on workers’ willingness to conduct non-job-related activities. When employees demonstrate extra-role behaviors and strong job engagement, managers perceive that they are extremely dedicated to the business as a whole [
56]. Affordance theory, signaling theory, and a cognitive processing viewpoint all come together to help explain how these impressions may emerge. The affordance hypothesis [
57], which is derived from ecological psychology, proposes that perception is formed from the interaction between an actor and his or her environment. An affordance, in particular, is a possibility or prerequisite for action [
58].
In today’s organizational setting, managers, as actors, use environmental signals from employees as preconditions, or affordances, from which they may make future decisions. This idea is supported further by signaling theory [
59] and the cognitive processing model. According to signaling theory, as managers do not have comprehensive knowledge about their workers, they rely on readily available and recognizable signals when making judgments about their employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Similarly, the cognitive processing model proposes that, due to restricted information processing capacities, individuals use shortcuts when forming attributions about the attitudes and behaviors of others [
60]. We expect managers to utilize workers’ extra-role performance as a cue to infer employees’ commitment to the organization, which is consistent with affordance, signaling, and cognitive processing viewpoints. Moreover, performance should indicate to the management that an employee is effectively devoted (emotionally attached) and desires to remain with the business because he or she strongly connects with it [
61]. The conceptual framework of the study is shown in
Figure 1. Social media technologies have rapidly permeated workplaces, and businesses have intentionally implemented such tools to help their employees and improve their corporate operations [
62]. We found it beneficial to assess the influence of extra-role behavior on workers’ motivation to perform similar tasks while using social media for both work- and social-related tasks at the workplace. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned discussions, the following hypothesis of the study is proposed:
H3:Extra-role behavior mediates the relationship between work-related social media usage and work performance.
H4:Extra-role behavior mediates the relationship between social-related social media usage and work performance.