Communication Reading Discussion

Please answer two of the three questions based on the pdf, each question 200-300words

In this study, Jiang et. all (2017) set out to find the correlation between social media usage and the jobs of communication practitioners. Social media usage is on the rise, especially as it related to being used in strategic communication plans (Jiang et al., 2017). This study is trying to determine whether or not this has had a positive or negative effect on communication practitioner roles (Jiang et al., 2017). More specifically, they studied if/how social media impacted communication practitioners “strategic communication work, leadership behaviors, and their perceptions of work-life conflict,” (Jiang et al., 2017).

To accomplish this, they looked at 4,700 U.S. based organizations across an array of industries, such as “corporations, nonprofit associations, government and military organizations, professional services companies, educational institutions, among a variety of other organizations,” (Jiang et al., 2017). Next, they combed through those organizations to identify all communication practitioners that held a managerial role; this included anyone with the words president, vice president, manager, etc. in their title, in addition to anyone whose job description placed them in a managerial role (Jiang et al., 2017). Within the organizations they looked at, 3,889 communication practitioners met these standers and had an accessible email (Jiang et al., 2017). These 3,889 people were sent a SurveyMonkey survey via email, which resulted in a total of 458 completed surveys (Jiang et al., 2017).

The average participant was 44 years old with a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Females had a slight majority, making up 54.1% of the participants (Jiang et al., 2017). In the survey, participants were asked an array of questions about how they use social media in their role, followed by specific questions regarding their role, their leadership skills, and their work-life conflict (Jiang et al., 2017). The survey was fairly straight forward. Participants were asked to use a scale of 1-11, 1 being neverand 11 being always,to rate questions such as “I am engaged in strategic decision-making,” or “My work keeps me from my non-work activities more than I would like,” (Jiang et al., 2017). The questions varied to cover all the topics mentioned above (social media usage, strategic communication, leadership skills, and work-life conflict). The researchers were then able to find correlation between social media use, strategic communication, leadership skills, and work-life conflict (Jiang et al., 2017).

Of the seven hypotheses in this study, 2 were supported, 2 were partially supported, and 3 were rejected. The results did prove the third hypothesis, which said that social media usage would positively affect the leadership skills of communication practitioners (Jiang et al., 2017). Hypotheses 6a and 6b, which said the aggravating impact of social media positively related to time-based and strain-based work-life conflict, were both supported by results (Jiang et al., 2017). Hypotheses 1 and 2 were partially supported. These hypothesized that social media usage and social media usage in strategic communication would have a positive impact on leadership behavior (Jiang et al., 2017), but the results were not strong enough to fully support this. Hypotheses 4, 5a, 5b, 7a, and 7b were all rejected.

As with any study, there were limitations and bias within this study. Jiang et al. identify many areas for further research, but the only limitation they offer is that the results are not generalizable due to the limited pool and size of the study (2017). One weakness I thought the study had was waiting until the concussion to define enhancingandaggravating.In the conclusion, Jiang et al. explain social media as having enhancingand aggravating impact potentials on different areas of a communication practitioners’ role (2017). An example of enhancing impact would be giving communication practitioners more flexibility in their role, whereas an aggravating impact would be social media leading to a more demanding role and pressure to work after hours (Jiang et al., 2017). These terms are used early in the paper but are not expanded on until the conclusion. Explaining this earlier would have been a strong choice, as 5 of the hypotheses revolve around these definitions. To end on a positive note, a strength I thought this paper had was clearly defining why they chose to conduct this study. Communication practitioners perform better under the right circumstances, and to optimize their performance, researchers wanted to explore the conditions in which social media could enhance or aggravate a communications practitioners’ strategic communication, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict (Jiang et al., 2017).

Using examples from the study, answer the following questions:

1. This study only provided one limitation. Would you agree that this is the only limitation? Why or why not? If you believe there are other limitations, what are they?
2. This study was conducted using communication practitioners from a variety of industries. As mentioned, this included “corporations, nonprofit associations, government and military organizations, professional services companies, educational institutions, among a variety of other organizations,” (Jiang et al., 2017). Do you think having the survey span across all of these industries helped or hurt the results? Was it good to cover that many industries, or would it have been better to concentrate their focus?
3. This paper was written to explore whether social media is enhancing or aggravating different areas of communication practitioner’s roles. The results provide a lot of areas for further research. What do you believe is the most beneficial area to further research next within this topic?

International Journal of Strategic Communication
ISSN: 1553-118X (Print) 1553-1198 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hstc20
Strategic Social Media Use in Public Relations:
Professionals’ Perceived Social Media Impact,
Leadership Behaviors, and Work-Life Conflict
Hua Jiang, Yi Luo & Owen Kulemeka
To cite this article: Hua Jiang, Yi Luo & Owen Kulemeka (2017) Strategic Social Media Use
in Public Relations: Professionals’ Perceived Social Media Impact, Leadership Behaviors,
and Work-Life Conflict, International Journal of Strategic Communication, 11:1, 18-41, DOI:
10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842
Published online: 13 Sep 2016.
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https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=hstc20
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
2017, VOL. 11, NO. 1, 18–41
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842
Strategic Social Media Use in Public Relations: Professionals’
Perceived Social Media Impact, Leadership Behaviors, and
Work-Life Conflict
Hua Jianga, Yi Luob, and Owen Kulemekac
a
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse, New York, USA; bSchool of Communication and Media,
Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA; cCollege of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of
Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
ABSTRACT
Using the E-leadership theory as the conceptual framework, the study
examined strategic communicators’ perceptions of the impact of social
media use on their work, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict.
Through a national sample of communication professionals (N = 458), this
study revealed the following key findings. The use of YouTube in professionals’ work, social media use in media relations, employee communications, and cause-related marketing/social marketing were significantly,
positively associated with participants’ perceptions of the enhancing impact
of social media use. Social media use in crisis management and employee
communications significantly, positively predicted professionals’ perceptions of social media’s aggravating impact (e.g., extended work hours,
increased workload) on their work. The use of Facebook and YouTube in
strategic communication, the use of social media in environmental scanning, as well as the positive and negative impact of social media use all
significantly and positively predicted communication professionals’ leadership behaviors. When the unintended negative effects of social media use
happened, professionals perceived a low control over their work and
thereby experienced a high level of time-based and strain-based work-life
conflict. Finally, public affairs/governmental relations professionals who
were frequent users of social media for their work reported a high level
of strain-based work-life conflict.
The extant scholarship on strategic communication has developed a multidisciplinary perspective
that enables researchers to conceptualize and operationalize their variables of interest from a variety
of disciplines such as management, marketing, human resources, public relations, and social media
(Hallahan, Holtzhausen, van Ruler, Verčič, & Sriramesh, 2007). Social media have tremendously
transformed strategic communication practice (Avolio, Sosik, Kahai, & Baker, 2014; Habibi, Laroche,
& Richard, 2014; Yang & Kang, 2015). They have led to profound changes in communication
professionals’ life (Boswell & Olson-Buchanan, 2007; Golden, 2013; Wright et al., 2014).
The deliberate use of these social media tools has become an integrate part of strategic communication strategies for organizations to gain better control of their competitive, complex environment
and hence advance their goals (Macnamara & Zerfass, 2012). It is thus imperative for strategic
communication scholarship (i.e., the “purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill
its mission,” see Hallahan et al., 2007, p. 3) to examine how the use of social media tools (e.g.,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) in communication work and social media use in specific communication functions/components (e.g., media relations, employee/internal communications,
CONTACT Yi Luo
luoy@mail.montclair.edu
Associate Professor, School of Communication and Media, Montclair State
University, Morehead 119, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA.
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
19
community relations, etc.) affect the work of these strategic communication professionals (Warwick,
2013). For example, the impact could be (1) positive or enhancing (e.g., how have social media
potentially improved strategic communication professionals’ ability to do their job?) or (2) negative
or aggravating (e.g., how has social media use in strategic communication actually increased job
demands and given rise to high work stress?).
Prior management research has pointed out some valuable insights for studying the strategic
relationship between social media and leadership behavior (Avolio, 2007; Bass, 2008). For instance,
the theory of E-leadership suggests that leaders can adopt advanced communication technologies to
strategically influence attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and performance of their target audiences (Avolio, Kahai, & Dodge, 2001). In accordance with the theory, when communication
professionals actively integrate social media into their daily work, they not only strategically use
them as vital resources to achieve organizational goals (Kahai, 2013) but also create an opportunity
to advance their leadership behaviors (Kiron, Palmer, Phillips, & Kruschwitz, 2012).
When communication professionals demonstrate some key leadership behaviors (e.g., understand
well their job environments, know how to adapt strategies to accomplish organizational goals, inspire
other organizational members, achieve excellent team collaborations, etc.), they tend to feel empowered, exert an adequate amount of control over their work, and be satisfied with their job performance
(Berger & Meng, 2010; Meng & Berger, 2013; Meng, Berger, Gower, & Heyman, 2012). As an
unintended consequence of social media management and leadership performance, fully packed
work schedules, increasing job responsibilities, and strong career motivations may cause huge job
pressure and stress, potentially leading to a high level of conflict between work and non-work (Carlson,
Kacmar, Wayne, & Grzywacz, 2006).
The well-being (e.g., how they juggle between work responsibilities and personal life commitments) of communication staff remains central to their organizations’ success and relationship
cultivation with its strategic internal publics—communication staff (Jiang & Shen, 2013; Wieland,
2011). Previous literature has been equivocal about whether, in the context of work-life conflict,
emerging communication technologies have primarily increased employees’ control over work and
thereby mitigated their perceived work-life conflict or caused employers to extend working hours
and hence increase workload, potentially contributing to, rather than ameliorating employees’
perceived work-life conflict (Golden, 2013, p. 101).
Prior strategic communication scholarship has also insufficiently studied the influence of social
media use on communication professionals’ perceived work-life conflict, which may result in
adversarial outcomes such as burnout, turnover intentions, and reduced trust, satisfaction, and
commitment (Jiang, 2012; Wright et al., 2014). A critical need thus exists to advance our understanding of how communication professionals’ social media use, leadership behaviors, and work-life
conflict are linked to one another (Boswell & Olson-Buchanan, 2007; Wright et al., 2014). Such
knowledge may help employers to develop realistic expectations and establish family-friendly,
supportive policies or initiatives to avoid those negative consequences (Boswell & OlsonBuchanan, 2007; Jiang, 2012), resulting in more engaged and committed workforce to achieve
organizational goals and missions.
This study sought to examine communication professionals’ perceptions of the influence of social
media use on their work, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict experiences (see Figure 1).
Its contributions to the literature on strategic communication, social media, leadership, and worklife interface are as follows. First, the present study contributes theoretically to strategic communication by integrating the E-leadership framework and social media literature into examining the
potential social media impact on both communication professionals’ job performance and their
personal well-being in and outside of the workplace. This focus could yield significant findings on
how communication professionals can manage social media strategically in their work to advance
organizational goals. Second, it draws upon the extant communication leadership scholarship,
incorporates in it the E-leadership literature in management studies, and applies them in the context
of social media use and professionals’ leadership behaviors. Third, it adds into the current limited
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H. JIANG ET AL.
Use of Social Media Tools in
Strategic Communication
-Facebook
-Twitter
-YouTube
The Impact of Social Media
Use upon Professionals’
Work (Enhancing):
-Improve abilities for job
responsibilities
-Improve productivity
-Allow flexibility in the hours
practitioners work
-Improve practitioners’
ability to share their ideas
with co-workers
-Improve professional
relationships
R1
H5a &
H5b
Work-Life Conflict:
-Time-Based
-Strain-Based
R5
R6
Social Media Use in Strategic
Communication Functions
-Media relations
-Crisis management
-Publicity
-Employee/Internal
communications
-Special events
-Community relations
-Reputation management
-Product/Brand communication
-Public affairs/Governmental
relations
-Annual/Quarterly reports
-Environmental Scanning
-Cause-related marketing/Social
marketing
-Financial/Investor relations
R3
H1
R2
H6a &
H6b
H2
H4
R4
The Impact of Social
Media Use upon
Professionals’ Work
(Aggravating):
-Increase demands that
professionals work more
hours
-Increase workload
-Increase stress
H7a &
H7b
H3
Professionals’ Leadership
Behaviors:
-Self-Dynamics
-Team Collaboration
-Ethical Orientation
-Relationship Building
-Strategic DecisionMaking
-Communication
Knowledge Management
Figure 1. Proposed conceptual model.
body of knowledge on communication professionals’ work-life conflict issues and these professionals
as an under-investigated yet a critical group of strategic internal stakeholders for any organizations.
Literature review
E-leadership as a theoretical framework: Integrating E-leadership use, its impact, leadership
behaviors, and communication professionals’ work-life interface
Given the scant literature in strategic communication, prior management studies provide a theoretical framework for linking social media use, its impact on strategic communicators’ work, and their
leadership behaviors and perceptions of work-life interface (see Avolio, 2007; Bass, 2008). Avolio and
Dodge (2000) defined “advanced information technology” (AIT) as “tools, techniques, and knowledge that enable multiparty participation in organizational and inter-organizational activities
through sophisticated collection, processing, management, retrieval, transmission, and display of
data and knowledge” (p. 616). Scholars argue that these new AIT environments create a coevolution
between technology and leadership that can be labelled as “E-leadership” (Gurr, 2004). The theory of
E-leadership suggests that AIT establishes a social influence process that enables E-leaders to
influence their peers’ and followers’ attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and performance
(Avolio et al., 2001).
In the social media era, E-leaders can use social media to coordinate geographically dispersed
virtual teams within and across organizational units to accomplish complex tasks (Hoch &
Kozlowski, 2012; Sutanoto, Tan, Battistini, & Phang, 2011), build online coalitions and communities
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
21
(Balkundi & Kilduff, 2006; Kahai, 2013), gain real-time information and knowledge (Avolio et al.,
2014), use the information and knowledge to understand an organization’s environments (Jiang,
Bazarova, & Hancock, 2013), and communicate a shared vision and cultivate trusting, respectful
relationships with an organization’s internal and external strategic stakeholders (Rhue &
Sundararajan, 2014; Weisband, 2008).
The impact of social media use on communicators’ professional work
As a conceptual framework to guide the present study on strategic communicators’ professional
work, the E-leadership theory suggests that social media users’ job performance is influenced by
advanced information technology (AIT) as an organizational structure. The structure serves as rules
and resources for strategic communicators to plan and complete their tasks (Avolio & Dodge, 2000;
Gurr, 2004). In consistency with the systems theory, the E-leadership model helps explain the role of
strategic communicators in the input-throughput-output-feedback1 loop in a social media context.
From this perspective, E-leadership researchers define social media as the technical enablement of
human behaviors in and outside of organizations (Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014).
The social media flow through the technical layers, as part of the input, throughput, output and
feedback, underlies and represents the generation of capital in strategic communicators’ job performance (see Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014, p. 98). In particular, the human capital, that is, skills,
knowledge and abilities that communicators obtain through strategic social media use, may result in
both enhancing and aggravating outputs to strategic communicators—improved abilities for job
responsibilities, improved productivity, flexibility in communicators’ work hours, improved ability
to collaborate with co-workers, improved professional relationships, and increased job demands,
workload and stress, etc. (Golden, 2013; Kiron et al., 2012; Korzynski, 2013; Weisband, 2008).
Transformed leadership as a result of strategic communicators’ interactions with the technology
Using the E-leadership framework, not only is the job performance (outputs) of communicators seen
to be influenced by social media use, but communicators’ leadership behaviors may be transformed as
a result of their interactions with the technology (Avolio & Dodge, 2000; Gurr, 2004). The social media
tactics that strategic communicators use may generate capital2 that advance their leadership behaviors
(Deans, 2011). Specifically, learning and engaging drives human, social and symbolic capital generation. Data-driven analysis and decision making creates human and organizational capital. Knowledge
generation and dissemination develops human and social capital. Creating new products or solving
problems generates organizational capital (Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014, p. 100).
All these coincide with the key dimensions of strategic communicators’ leadership behaviors—
communicators in charge of organizational social media management can use social media to
identify opportunities and challenges in internal and external environments, develop and implement
communication strategies accordingly, inspire other organizational members with a shared vision
consistent with core organizational values, execute communication strategies and achieve excellent
communication management through team collaboration, resolve any ethical and legal dilemmas
and conflicts, cultivate mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its strategic
stakeholders, transform their knowledge about complex environments and internal processes and
structures into effective advocacy and empowerment in strategic decision making, apply and convert
1
Through their strategic use of social media, strategic communicators receive information, energy or matter from the environment
(input), analyze the information, energy or matter and respond to the input (throughput), release information, energy or matter
into the environment to restore equilibrium or solve problems (output), and seek response from the environment to determine
whether an equilibrium has been accomplished or a problem is solved (feedback).
2
Economic Capital: Financial, physical and manufactured capital resources. Social Capital: The ability of a strategic communicator or
an organization to capitalize on social connections. Symbolic Capital: The amount of honor or prestige possessed within a given
social structure. Human Capital: Skills, knowledge and abilities that a strategic communicator can use to generate income or
other useful outputs. Organizational Capital: Institutionalized knowledge stored in databases, routines, patents, manuals and
structures (see Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014, p. 98).
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H. JIANG ET AL.
knowledge and expertise acquired through social media into effective communication strategies and
tactics (Berger & Meng, 2010; Meng & Berger, 2013; Meng et al., 2012).
The interface between professional and personal life
Another dimension of the E-leadership theory pertinent to the present study lies in the professional and personal divide caused by strategic communicators’ social media use and E-leadership
behaviors (Norris & Porter, 2011; Stock, Bauer, & Bieling, 2014). People who understand the
correct mix of professional and personal information on social media tend to establish a mutually
beneficial relationship between their role as strategic communicators for their employers and
their role in personal lives (Hagel, Brown, & Davison, 2009, p. 2). Social media use that
humanizes communication leaders whose professional role may otherwise seem inaccessible can
help them develop desirable professional networks, increase the trust crucial to the collaborative
nature of any strategic communication and leadership jobs, and enhance their job performance
and further enrich their personal lives, resulting in their more balanced distribution of time
between work and life and less spillover of stress from work to life (Rosenbloom, 2008).
Nevertheless, the opposite of what communicators expect can happen if they fail to use social
media and perform their E-leadership behaviors strategically and adequately.
Major components of the strategic communication function
A key functional component of strategic communication includes public relations (Hallahan et al.,
2007, p. 6). Wilcox and Cameron (2012) summarized 13 key components or functions of public
relations. Because of its comprehensive nature in describing both internal and external strategic
functions of communication, this study uses Wilcox and Cameron’s identification as a framework
for specific strategic communication functions.
These key functions include: (1) media relations (e.g., dealing with journalists), (2) publicity (e.g.,
distributing information about a company’s new products), (3) employee/internal communications
(e.g., communicating with employees), (4) community relations (e.g., building a supportive environment with a community), (5) public/governmental affairs (e.g., managing communication with
regulatory agencies), (6) environmental scanning (e.g., scanning external environment and monitoring issues), (7) financial relations (e.g., building relationships with investors), (8) reputation management (e.g., maintaining and advancing an organization’s reputation in the industry and among its
internal and external strategic stakeholders), (9) crisis management (e.g., managing communication
during crisis), (10) special events (e.g., planning an event to launch a new product or generate
interest for a company), (11) cause-related/social marketing (e.g., managing communication to
promote the greater social good), (12) product/brand communication (e.g., dealing with promoting
and selling a product), and (13) annual/quarterly report (e.g., preparing annual report to shareholders). Few studies in strategic communication have probed the role of social media use (e.g.,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) in all the above key strategic communication functions. The
present study thus represents a pioneering direction to systematically examine how social media
use has affected the core components of the strategic communication function.
Impact of social media use on strategic communicators’ work
The unique characteristics and infinite potential of social media have made it a center stage in
strategic communication scholarship and practice (Taylor & Kent, 2010; Warwick, 2013). Social
media refer to a group of Web 2.0-based applications using highly accessible and scalable publishing
techniques that enable the creation and exchange of user generated content (Wright & Hinson,
2009). There is a scarcity of strategic communication research examining the effects of social media
use in the workplace (Cao, Vogel, Guo, Liu, & Gu, 2012). Little is known about how social media use
affects the completion of communication professionals’ work (Tsay, Dabbish, & Herbsleb, 2012).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
23
As indicated in the connectivism theory (i.e., a learning theory for social media use in both work
and life), individuals in a knowledge society constantly acquire knowledge through active social
media use, which is never a process of “progressive knowledge acquisition” but one of “preservation
of connections” (Munene & Nyaribo, 2013, p. 143). In strategic communication industry, continued
learning is thus centered on professionals’ ability to stay connected with specialized information sets
and digital communities that are closely related to their professional work. Consequently, their
thoughts and ideas can be constantly shared with networks in and outside of their organizations.
Existing research does suggest some positive or enhancing impact of social media use on how
individuals accomplish their work. As social media transform traditional work into technologically
mediated one, employees may gain flexibility in working hours and locations (e.g., telecommuting
work) (Golden & Geisler, 2007). Castilla (2005) found that strengthened professional relationships
resulted from employees’ use of social networking sites had a positive impact on employees’
performance. In particular, the ability of social media for content exchange and creation significantly
fosters collaboration among organizational members, contributing to better job outcomes, such as
job productivity and efficiency (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Based on a survey of 1,799 employees in Greek insurance industry, Leftheriotis and Giannakos
(2014) concluded that participants’ higher frequency of using work-related social media was positively related to better job performance. The authors are thus applying the existing research on the
effects of digital technology use in the workplace to the strategic communication profession.
Particularly, the authors seek to examine the enhancing impact of social media use as follows:
communication professionals’ enhanced ability to get their job done, improved productivity,
increased job flexibility and the ability to share ideas with others, and better relationships that
they cultivate with their professional networks.
Despite the aforementioned enhancing impact, adopting digital technologies at work may lead to
extra job demands for employees and deprive them of resources needed for other responsibilities
than their work. Based on a scarcity and boundary-spanning framework, role conflict theorists (e.g.,
Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000) assumed that individuals, when participating in work and life
roles, inevitably experience conflict and stress as the total amount of available time and consumable
human energy is fixed. For example, increased availability for work pressures employees to respond
immediately to work-related issues even during off-work hours (Golden, 2013). As a result, employees using social media for work more frequently than others tend to experience extended working
hours, increased workload, and additional job stress (Cao et al., 2012). We identify these negative
effects as aggravating impact of social media use.
Applying the existing research on the positive and negative effects of social media use to the
context of communication professionals’ work, this study proposes the following research questions
to explore how the enhancing and aggravating effects of social media use relate to strategic
communication work and its core functions:
RQ1: How is use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) related to the
enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’
work?
RQ2: How is social media use in strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations,
employee/internal communications, community relations, etc.) related to the enhancing and
aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work?
Communication leadership
Communication leadership scholarship mainly emerged from leadership research in business management (Berger & Meng, 2010; Meng & Berger, 2013; Meng et al., 2012). It focuses on identifying
24
H. JIANG ET AL.
leadership dimensions and probing the impact of leadership on effective communication practices.
Communication leadership is defined as a dynamic process involving a set of skills, behaviors, and
personal attributes that enable effective communication practices for helping achieve organizational
goals (Meng & Berger, 2013, p. 143). This study focuses specifically on linking professionals’
behavior of social media use with work efficiency and effectiveness in communication (aka, communication leadership behaviors) as well as professionals’ work-life conflict experiences.
Meng, Berger, and their colleagues (e.g., Meng, 2010, 2012; Meng et al., 2012) are the pioneering
communication scholars who have identified and tested across cultures excellent leadership behavioral dimensions associated with effective communication practices. In particular, Meng and Berger
(2013) proposed and tested six excellent leadership behavioral dimensions in strategic communication, including self-dynamics, team collaboration, ethical orientation, relationship building, strategic
decision-making, and communication knowledge management.
Self-dynamics involves two sub-dimensions: (1) self-insight (i.e., leaders’ self-awareness of their
strengths and weaknesses and their good understanding of the environment to apply strategies for
achieving organizational goals) and (2) shared vision (i.e., motivating and inspiring followers with
the shared organizational vision in order to make things happen). Team collaboration reflects how
leaders foster collaboration within and across organizational units in pursuing excellence in communication management. Ethical orientation refers to how leaders follow professional standards and
values to resolve legal and ethical problems. Relationship building indicates the degree to which
leaders perceive the importance of creating network resources and cultivating quality relationships.
Strategic decision making demonstrates how leaders can enact on their advisory role and participate
in strategic decision making by weighing in their knowledge on external environment and internal
structures, processes, and practices. Finally, communication knowledge management indicates how
leaders apply their communication knowledge and expertise to develop effective strategies and
tactics.
Communication leadership scholars (e.g., Meng & Berger, 2013; McKie & Willis, 2015) have
called for more research that specifically addresses the relationship between leadership behavioral
dimensions and effective communication management. Given the significant influence of social
media on strategic communication practices, this study explores how the above-mentioned six
excellent public relations leadership behavioral dimensions relate to social media use in professionals’ communication practices.
Linking excellent leadership behaviors to social media use
Prior studies have yielded empirical evidence that supports a positive relationship between social media
use and professionals’ leadership behaviors. Based on data collected from nearly 3,500 business
executives around the world, Kiron et al. (2012) concluded that strategic social media use is valuable
for organizational management to provide “strategic insight and strategic execution” (p. 57). Such
instrumental value of social media use directly connects with the two sub-dimensions (i.e., self-insight
and shared vision) of the self-dynamic leadership behavioral dimension identified by Meng and Berger
(2013). Other existing research on social media and communication leadership also showed support
for linking strategic social media management to leadership behaviors. For instance, Porter et al. (2007)
found that communication managers who used blogs frequently received a high rating by their
followers on their communication expertise and knowledge. A great challenge for communication
executives in DiStaso et al.’s (2011) study was how to use social media to engage strategic stakeholders
for building quality relationships. Sweetser and Kelleher’s (2011) study also found that communication
leaders who perceived the value of social media use were more influential in their professional
networks.
Previous studies on the link between social media and the key strategic communication functions
(e.g., media relations, fund-raising, publicity, public affairs, etc.) also demonstrated a positive
relationship between these two variables. For example, communication scholars found that organizations use various social media tools (e.g., social networking sites, video sharing, microblogging,
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
25
etc.) for marketing communications (Estanyol, 2012), building relationships with key stakeholders
(Cho, Schweickart, & Haase, 2014), and fund-raising (Carim & Warwick, 2013). Recent research
(Agostino, 2013; Hong, 2013) on governmental relations demonstrated how social media were
valuable for communication practitioners to seek citizens’ feedback and boost public trust. Use of
social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) was effective at building relationships with
journalists for both for- and nonprofit organizations (Bajkiewicz, Kraus, & Hong, 2011). Many
studies (e.g., van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2013) have strongly suggested that communication
professionals utilize social media to disseminate critical information for their clients and address
the concerns during crises.
Research in business management and organizational behavior has also provided ample evidence
of how the enhancing impact of social media use (e.g., increased transparency, increased productivity, etc.) has a positive association with leadership behaviors. For instance, the greater transparency
afforded by social media use enables leaders to share ideas with team members, fellow leaders, and
stakeholders, which results in more ethical leadership behaviors and better relationships with
internal and external constituencies (Weisband, 2008). Moreover, Kiron et al. (2012) suggested
that adopting social media allows industry leaders to exchange ideas with relevant stakeholders to
a greater extent, generating more creative solutions for problems, and most importantly allows them
to acquire strategic insights for creating shared visions and making strategic decisions. Korzynski’s
(2013) study also discovered that enhanced professional connections through social networks help
leaders to foster collaborations within and across their organizations.
Increased communication transparency via social networks was conducive for leaders to engage
in ethical behaviors. Conversely, the consequential aggravating effects (e.g., rising work demands,
prolonged working hours, increased work stress, etc.) of social media use may constrain leaders’
behaviors, such as conducting an accurate situation analysis during decision making (e.g., Golden,
2013). This study thus predicts a negative relationship between the aggravating impact of social
media use upon communication leadership behaviors.
H1: Use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) is positively related to
communication professionals’ leadership behaviors.
H2: Social media use in strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations, employee/internal
communications, community relations, etc.) is positively related to communication professionals’ leadership behaviors.
H3: The enhancing impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is positively related to their leadership behaviors.
H4: The aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is
negatively related to their leadership behaviors.
Work-life conflict
Work-life conflict has become a strategic issue in business management and psychology in
recent years (Allen et al., 2012; Glavin & Schieman, 2012). This increased scholarly attention is
largely attributed to its profound impact on some core organizational outcomes, such as job
satisfaction and turnover (Beham, Prag, & Drobnic, 2012), job performance (Lyness &
Judiesch, 2008), organizational commitment (Wang & Walumbwa, 2007), and work stress
and depression (Cortese, Colombo, & Ghislieri, 2010). Scholarly attention in strategic communication research has been inadequate. For example, until recently Aldoory, Jiang, Toth,
and Sha (2008) compared the impact of work-life conflict between male and female
26
H. JIANG ET AL.
communication professionals. Jiang (2012) found that time-based work-life conflict significantly predicted employees’ perception of employee-organization relationships. Through a
national sample of 820 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) members, Jiang and
Shen (2013) found that a more family-supportive organizational work environment ameliorated
communication professionals’ perceived work-life conflict. Work-life conflict refers to the
incompatibility between fulfilling work duties and enacting on an individual’s other role
demands in non-work or personal life sphere (Wadsworth & Owens, 2007). The present
study focuses on two major types of work-life conflict: time-based and strain-based
(McMillan, Morris, & Atchley, 2011).
Time-based work-life conflict
Viewed as the most prevalent form of conflict, time-based work-life conflict emerges when the
amount of time enacting on work role responsibilities reduces the time needed to perform one’s
non-work responsibilities (Bohle, Willaby, Quinlan, & McNamara, 2011). This conflict essentially
consists of schedule conflict and extended work time that usually result in role overload (Brauchli,
Bauer, & Hammig, 2011). Time-based work-life conflict is rooted in the role conflict theory, which
argues that human energy and time is limited (Barnett & Gareis, 2006). When an individual needs to
enact on multiple roles, the roles compete for his or her scarce time and energy. Juggling between
multiple roles decreases the total amount of quality time devoted to both work and personal life, thus
triggering a conflict (McMillan et al., 2011).
Strain-based work-life conflict
This type of work-life conflict appears when work-role related stress makes it hard for an individual to
fulfill effectively in his or her life role (McMillan & Morris, 2012). Such conflict is based on the
assumption that stress, fatigue, or irritability resulted from an individual’s work demands can significantly undermine other required activities in non-work domains (McNamara, Bohle, & Quinlan,
2011). Strain-based conflict also reflects the person-environment (P-E) fit theory. A fit is reached when
an employee’s knowledge and competence aligns with the expectations and responsibilities in the
workplace (McMillan et al., 2011). A mismatch between these expectations and an individual’s skills
generates incompatibility or a misfit (Pleck, Staines, & Lang, 1980). As a result, conflict arises when
work requirements compete with life demands, contributing to a high level of strain.
Linking social media impact to work-life conflict
As explained in the earlier section, a pervasive adoption of social media in organizations blurs the
boundaries between work and personal life (Wieland, 2011). Adopting social media in the workplace
may create flexibility to work at a convenient location and time, which in return may mitigate the
conflict between work and non-work (Golden, 2013). Improved work productivity resulted from
social media use (Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014) could reward employees with additional time and
energy to fulfill their family responsibilities. However, technologically mediated work may also create
unintended negative outcomes including extended working hours, increased workload, and more
stress (Golden & Geisler, 2007). Based on an online survey of 168 employees from more than 30
companies in a Midwestern city, Wright et al. (2014) found that increases in perceived enhancing
impact of social media use for work-related tasks significantly predicted decreases in perceptions of
work-life conflict, but increases in perceived aggravating impact of social media use for work-related
tasks were significantly associated with increases in perceptions of work-life conflict (pp. 507–514).
Based on the above reviewed literature, this study proposes the following research questions and
hypotheses:
R3: How is use of social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and social media use
in strategic communication functions (e.g., media relations, employee/internal communications, community relations, etc.) related to time-based and strain-based work-life conflict?
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
27
H5a: The enhancing impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is
negatively related to their perceived time-based work-life conflict.
H5b: The enhancing impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is
negatively related to their perceived strain-based work-life conflict.
H6a: The aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is
positively related to their perceived time-based work-life conflict.
H6b: The aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work is
positively related to their perceived strain-based work-life conflict.
Linking excellent leadership behaviors to work-life conflict
Top executives or senior managers usually encounter very demanding job expectations (e.g., time
pressures, stressful work hours). These executives’ stringent work responsibilities may collide with
their non-work requirements (Shelton, Danes, & Eisenman, 2008). Such a conflict between professional and personal responsibilities oftentimes provokes feelings of stress, fatigue, and exhaustion
(McCarthy, Darcy, & Grady, 2010; Stock et al., 2014). Applying this line of research in the context of
communication leadership, this study proposes the following hypotheses linking communication
professionals’ leadership behaviors with time-based and strain-based work-life conflict:
H7a: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors are positively related to their perceived
time-based work-life conflict.
H7b: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors are positively related to their perceived
strain-based work-life conflict.
Method
Data collection
Via SurveyMonkey, the authors conducted an online survey of communication professionals at U.S.based corporations, nonprofit associations, government and military organizations, professional
services companies, educational institutions, among a variety of other organizations. Using some
primary databases,3 the authors compiled a list of solicited organizations. Economic development
websites and chambers of commerce were also used to identify the largest employers in the 50 largest
U.S. cities. To do so, the authors attempted to achieve the best representative sample of organizations
as they could.
As a consequence, the authors enlisted a total of 4,700 organizations. They visited the communication unit and leadership Websites of these organizations and looked for both individuals with job titles
such as vice president of communications, senior vice president of corporate communications, communication managers, as well as communication professionals who did not have a managerial or
executive title but evidently (in their job descriptions or reports) played a managerial or leadership role
3
For this project, the researchers used the following 9 databases: (1) The Fortune 500 list of large corporations, (2) INC Magazine’s
list of the fastest growing private companies, (3) Deloitte Fast 500 list of the fastest growing technology companies, (4)
CharityNavigator.com’s directory of large charities, (5) Guidestar.org list of the largest nonprofit organizations, (6) US News &
World Report’s list of major universities and colleges, (7) Becker Hospital Review’s list of large hospitals, (8) American School &
University magazine’s list of the largest school systems, and (9) Washington Technology Magazine’s list of the top companies
that do business with the federal government.
28
H. JIANG ET AL.
in strategic communication and social media management. To build the project’s contact database, the
authors copied potential participants’ emails from the websites. When some participants’ emails were
not readily available, the authors utilized Lexis Nexis and searched World Wide Web (e.g., emails are
sometimes embedded in press releases, annual reports, blogs, etc.). A total of 3,889 emails were
identified. The authors and their research assistants sent solicitation emails between October, 2013
and March, 2014. Several rounds of follow-up emails were later sent in hope to increase participation.
The authors conducted data analyses based on 458 completed survey responses.
Participant profile4
Participants on average aged 44 (SD = 10.10). Female professionals made up the majority of the
sample (n = 245, 54.1%). A large portion of the sampled participants was well educated, reporting to
have either a Bachelor’s degree (n = 203, 44.8%) or a Master’s degree (n = 180, 39.7%). In terms of
salary level, most of the participants (n = 298) earned an annual salary of more than $70,000 (n = 41,
9.1% for $70,001–80,000; n = 30, 6.7% for $80,001–90,000; n = 38, 8.4% for $90,001–100,000;
n = 189, 42.0% for $100,001 plus). Many participants had more than 10 years of professional
experience in strategic communication (n10-15 years = 97, 21.4%; nmore than 15 years = 215, 47.5%).
The authors also achieved a relatively representative sample of participants who worked for employers of various sizes.5
Measures
All the scale items used an 11-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (“never” or “strongly disagree”)
to 11 (“always” or “strongly agree”). See Table 2 for the full item statements used in the study (N,
Mean, and SD).
Social media use
Participants were asked to rate to what extent (“1” = “never” to “11” = “always”) they had been using
different social media tools in their public relations-related work and the degree to which they had
been using social media in performing different functions of public relations. Each item read as “Please
check the number that best describes your use of social media in your public relations-related work.”
Social media impact upon communication professionals’ work: Enhancing vs. aggravating
To measure participants’ perceptions of the impact that social media use exerted upon their work,
the authors adapted eight scale items used in previous research6 (see Cao et al., 2012; Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010; Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014) (Cronbach’s α for the enhancing impact = .80;
Cronbach’s α for the aggravating impact = .88). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal
axis factoring and varimax rotation generated two factors with eigenvalue greater than 1. A
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) further tested the two-factor structure of the measure.
Time-based and strain-based work-life conflict
Six items (see Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000) were adopted to measure time-based (Cronbach’s
α = .96) and strain-based (Cronbach’s α = .88) work-life conflict. Both EFA and CFA verified the
construct validity results that Carlson et al. (2000) reported.
See Table 1 for the complete participant profile.
(nfewer than 100 employees = 68, 15.1%; n100-499 employees = 72, 16.0%; n500-999 employees = 51, 11.3%; n1,000–2,499 employees = 50, 11.1%;
n2,500–4,999 employees = 58, 12.9%; n5,000–9,999 employees = 43, 9.5%; n10,000–24,999 employees = 51, 11.3%; n25,000–49,999 employees = 23,
5.1%; n50,000 or more employees = 22, 4.9%).
6
The items were also used in PRSA’s Work, Life, and Gender (WLG) Committee’s PRSA membership survey.
4
5
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
29
Table 1. Participant Profile for the Study (N = 458).
Sample Characteristics
Gender
Male
Female
I prefer not to answer
Education
Some college, but no degree
Bachelor’s degree
Some graduate work
Master’s degree
Doctorate (Ph.D.)
Other
College major
Public relations
Marketing
Journalism
Advertising
Communication
English
Other
Hispanic/Latino/Spanish origin
No. I am NOT of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.
Yes, Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano.
Yes, Puerto Rican.
Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
Race
White
Black, African American, or Negro
Chinese
Filipino
Other
Salary level
$20,001–30,000
$30,001–40,000
$40,001–50,000
$50,001–60,000
$60,001–70,000
$70,001–80,000
$80,001–90,000
$90,001–100,000
$100,001 plus
Prefer not to answer
Professional experiences
Less than 3 years
3–5 Years
5–10 Years
10–15 Years
More than 15 Years
Other
Organizational type
Private Corporation
Public Corporation
Nonprofit Organization/Association
Government Organization/military
Professional services
Educational institution
Other
Organizational size (number of employees)
Fewer than 100
100–499
500–999
1,000–2,499
2,500–4,999
5,000–9,999
Valid N of Sample
453
200
245
8
453
4
203
44
180
13
9
449
35
15
126
3
103
40
127
445
426
11
2
6
447
409
24
2
4
8
450
1
7
29
40
35
41
30
38
189
40
453
24
30
78
97
215
9
453
47
60
93
54
6
182
11
451
68
72
51
50
58
43
Valid % of Sample
100.0%
44.2%
54.1%
1.8%
100.0%
.9%
44.8%
9.7%
39.7%
2.9%
2.0%
100.0%
7.8%
3.3%
28.1%
.7%
22.9%
8.9%
28.3%
100.0%
95.7%
2.5%
.4%
1.3%
100.0%
91.5%
5.4%
.4%
.9%
1.8%
100.0%
.2%
1.6%
6.4%
8.9%
7.8%
9.1%
6.7%
8.4%
42.0%
8.9%
100.0%
5.3%
6.6%
17.2%
21.4%
47.5%
2.0%
100.0%
10.4%
13.2%
20.5%
11.9%
1.3%
40.2%
2.4%
100.0%
15.1%
16.0%
11.3%
11.1%
12.9%
9.5%
(Continued )
30
H. JIANG ET AL.
Table 1. (Continued).
Sample Characteristics
10,000–24,999
25,000–49,999
50,000 or more
Don’t know/not sure
Total number of comm. management staff
Fewer than 5
5–9
10–19
20–49
50–99
100 or more
Don’t know/not sure
Valid N of Sample
51
23
22
13
452
169
91
59
50
40
25
18
Valid % of Sample
11.3%
5.1%
4.9%
2.9%
100.0%
37.4%
20.1%
13.1%
11.1%
8.8%
5.5%
4.0%
Communication leadership behaviors
The authors revised 26 scale items from Meng and Berger (2013) to measure professionals’ leadership behaviors (Cronbach’s αself-dynamics = .92; Cronbach’s αteam collaboration = .88; Cronbach’s αethical
orientation = .67; Cronbach’s αrelationship building = .78; Cronbach’s αstrategic decision-making capability = .89;
Cronbach’s αcommunication knowledge management = .91). Results of EFA and CFA analyses indicated a
second-order factor structure of the construct, which is consistent with the construct validity
information that Meng and Berger (2013) presented.
Analysis
To examine the research questions and test the hypotheses, the authors conducted hierarchical linear
regression analyses.7 To determine the effect size of a standardized coefficient, Keith’s (2006) criteria
were adopted. The cut-offs for negligible, small but meaningful, moderate, and large effects are
standardized coefficients (1) less than .05, (2) .05 to .10, (3) .10 to .25, and (4) above .25, respectively.
Results
Preliminary data analysis
As shown in Table 2, the participants did extensively use three key social media tools in their
strategic communication work: (1) Twitter (M = 9.53, SD = 2.42), (2) Facebook (M = 9.36,
SD = 2.63), and (3) YouTube (M = 7.95, SD = 2.75). Top social media use in various strategic
communication functions included (1) publicity (i.e., information dissemination) (M = 9.96,
SD = 2.05); (2) special events (M = 9.20, SD = 2.69); (3) product/brand communication
(M = 8.97, SD = 2.90); (4) community relations (M = 8.71, SD = 2.95); (5) media relations
(M = 8.59, SD = 2.68); (6) reputation management (M = 8.55, SD = 2.87); and (7) crisis management
(M = 7.67, SD = 3.34). Moreover, statistically significant correlations between the observed variables
ranged from .10 (p < .05) to .61 (p < .01) (see Table 3). R1 to R2: The enhancing vs. aggravating impact of social media use Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the influence of using social media tools and social media use in various strategic communication functions on the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon communication professionals’ work. The results When hierarchical regression analyses were conducted, the authors controlled the following demographic variables (see Table 1): Age, gender, educational background, college major, Hispanic, Latio and Spanish origin, race, salary level, professional experience, organization type, total number of employees, total number of communication management staff, and total number of subordinates. However, the impact of these variables was not reported in the main text, for the sake of brevity. 7 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 31 Table 2. Descriptive Statistics (Numbers, Means and Standard Deviations) of the Full Item Statements in the Present Study (N = 458). The Item Statements Use of Social Media Tools in Strategic Communication The use of Facebook in your strategic communication work The use of Twitter in your strategic communication work The use of YouTube in your strategic communication work Social Media Use in Strategic Communication Functions The use of social media in media relations The use of social media in crisis management The use of social media in publicity (i.e., information dissemination) The use of social media in employee/internal communications The use of social media in special events The use of social media in community relations The use of social media in reputation management The use of social media in product/brand communication The use of social media in public affairs/governmental relations The use of social media in annual/quarterly reports The use of social media in environmental scanning (i.e., monitoring issues) The use of social media in cause-related marketing/social marketing The use of social media in financial/investor relations The Impact of Social Media Use upon Professionals’ Work (Enhancing) The use of social media improved your ability to do your job? The use of social media improved your productivity at your job? The use of social media allowed you more flexibility in the hours you work? The use of social media improved your ability to share your ideas with co-workers? The use of social media improved your professional relationships? The Impact of Social Media Use upon Professionals’ Work (Aggravating) The use of social media increased demands that you work more hours? The use of social media increased your workload (on the job)? The use of social media increased stress in your job? Professionals’ Leadership Behaviors Self-Insight I am engaged in strategic decision-making. I am aware of applying diverse strategies depending on different situations. I am proactive (e.g., I am a risk-taker, self-starter, and like taking initiative). I act as a change agent in the organization. Shared Vision I enlist other communication professionals in a shared vision. I provide a vision of potential changes and developments in areas affecting the organization. I provide organizational leaders with a clear vision about public relations values and role. I provide organizational leaders with a clear vision of how public relations goals are congruent with organizational goals. Team Collaboration I collaborate with members in other divisions of the organization to define PR strategies and programs. I develop a proactive and professional communication team. I facilitate positive interdependence among team members. I bring diverse groups together to collaboratively solve problems. Ethical Orientation I highly respect the core values of PR as professional standards (e.g., advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness). I am capable of acting promptly to correct erroneous communications of team members and other coworkers. I understand ethical differences which grow out of diverse cultures. Relationship Building I regularly brief members of the organization about public relations programs and results. I am capable of cultivating relationships with key external publics. I am capable of fostering trust and credibility with media representatives. I am capable of understanding the needs of key publics. Strategic Decision Making I am proactive in the organization’s internal decision-making processes. I have knowledge of decision-making processes, practices and structures in the organization. SD Valid N 9.36 2.63 9.53 2.42 7.95 2.75 458 455 457 8.59 2.68 7.67 3.34 9.96 2.05 455 454 454 5.59 9.20 8.71 8.55 8.97 6.12 3.78 6.54 6.49 2.39 3.46 2.69 2.95 2.87 2.90 3.51 3.48 3.97 3.80 2.62 456 456 451 456 458 456 453 455 455 451 8.47 7.08 3.57 6.17 7.05 2.49 2.88 2.99 3.25 2.97 456 457 457 454 456 7.73 2.95 8.20 2.67 6.64 3.06 455 457 456 9.44 9.86 9.87 9.29 1.80 1.39 1.44 1.86 458 458 457 456 9.57 9.37 9.47 9.48 1.63 1.66 1.62 1.69 456 457 458 455 9.70 9.56 9.59 9.26 1.62 1.90 1.83 1.90 458 458 457 456 10.46 1.17 453 10.38 1.10 454 10.09 1.33 453 9.36 1.92 10.21 1.18 10.41 .99 10.30 .98 457 456 456 451 9.33 1.86 9.62 1.70 453 453 Mean (Continued ) 32 H. JIANG ET AL. Table 2. (Continued). The Item Statements Mean SD Valid N I am capable of spanning internal/external boundaries and interpreting information, from publics, for organizational decision makers. I am included in strategic decision-making groups in the organization. Communication Knowledge Management I use research to develop appropriate strategies, messages, and activities. I convert knowledge about publics and issues into effective and representative advocacy of these publics and issues with decision makers. I use research to help solve communication problems. Time-Based Work-Life Conflict My work keeps me from my non-work activities more than I would like. The time I must devote to my job keeps me from participating equally in my non-work responsibilities and activities. I have to miss non-work activities due to the amount of time I must spend on work responsibilities. Strain-Based Work-Life Conflict When I get off work, I am often too frazzled to participate in non-work activities/responsibilities. I am often so emotionally drained when I get off work that it prevents me from contributing to my nonwork responsibilities. Due to all the pressures at work, sometimes when I get off work I am too stressed to do the things I enjoy. 9.91 1.37 453 9.09 2.17 450 9.04 1.98 9.04 1.83 455 454 9.01 2.01 454 7.15 3.09 6.94 3.15 458 458 6.58 3.19 458 5.33 3.26 5.30 3.32 458 457 5.60 3.37 457 indicated that the use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube explained 20% of the variance in the enhancing impact of social media use [(F change (3, 317) = 27.78, p < .001, ΔR2 = .20)]. The linear combination of the 13 key strategic communication functions in which social media tools were used jointly explained 18% of the variance in the enhancing impact of social media use, after the influence of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube was controlled for [(F change (13, 304) = 7.47, p < .001, ΔR2 = .18)]. The use of YouTube (t = 2.54, p < .01, β = .13) in strategic communication, social media use in media relations (t = 4.86, p < .001, β = .28), employee/ internal communications (t = 2.83, p < .01, β = .14), and cause-related marketing/social marketing (t = 1.86, p < .05, β = .11) were identified as significant positive predictors of the enhancing impact of social media use in strategic communication. Moreover, the use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in strategic communication explained 7% of the variance in the aggravating impact of social media use [(F change (3, 317) = 8.30, p < .001, ΔR2 = .07)]. The linear combination of strategic communication functions in which social media tools were used jointly explained an additional 7% of the variance in the dependent variable, after the influence of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use was controlled for [(F change (13, 304) = 1.88, p < .05, ΔR2 = .07)]. The use of Twitter (t = 1.67, p < .05, β = .12) in strategic communication, the use of social media in crisis management (t = 2.28, p < .05, β = .14) and employee/internal communications (t = 2.10, p < .05, β = .13) were statistically significant predictors of the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication. H1 to H4: Communication professionals’ leadership behaviors Likewise, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine how social media use in strategic communication influenced professionals’ leadership behaviors. The linear combination of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use explained 13% of the variance in professionals’ leadership behaviors [(F change (3, 317) = 18.61, p < .001, ΔR2 = .13)]. The linear combination of the 13 key strategic communication functions in which social media were used jointly explained an additional 7% of the variance in professionals’ leadership behaviors after the influence of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use was controlled for [(F change (13, 304) = 2.56, p = .001, ΔR2 = .07)]. After controlling for the use of three key social media tools and social media use in the 13 functions, the enhancing impact of social media use in strategic communication accounted for another 2% of the 1 1.00 .51** .37** .21** .18** .34** .15** .35** .33** .38** .36** .10* .12** .06 .27** .05 .29** .18** .29** −.02 −.04 1.00 .37** .42** .28** .38** .14** .31** .27** .32** .33** .14** .09 .22** .22** .11* .35** .22** .19** −.04 −.05 2 1.00 .28** .30** .27** .25** .25** .28** .28** .25** .12* .11* .20** .22** .10* .31** .16** .32** .04 .02 3 1.00 .32** .46** .27** .29** .23** .36** .25** .30** .13** .20** .25** .07 .40** .13** .25** .04 .01 4 1.00 .25** .26** .19** .18** .37** .18** .20** .08 .30** .20** .03 .30** .20** .21** .07 .02 5 1.00 .18** .52** .42** .45** .42** .19** .08 .21** .22** .04 .27** .14** .19** .02 −.04 6 1.00 .22** .19** .27** .17** .17** .08 .15** .11* .11* .32** .16** .18** .07 .06 7 1.00 .55** .45** .33** .19** .09 .14** .29** .00 .29** .09 .19** −.02 −.07 8 1.00 .36** .23** .31** .18** .16** .35** .04 .31** .11* .17** −.03 −.04 9 1.00 .56** .29** .20** .30** .42** .11* .37** .16** .30** −.02 −.02 10 1.00 .13** .09 .20** .28** .12** .25** .18** .23** .05 −.02 11 1.00 .24** .23** .34** .14** .27** .04 .13** −.05 .05 12 1.00 .25** .27** .34** .18** .02 .20** −.04 −.02 13 1.00 .32** .17** .19** .15** .23** .06 .08 14 1.00 .20** .34** .09 .21** −.03 −.00 15 1.00 .10* .11* .09 −.04 .03 16 1.00 .18** .31** −.05 −.11* 17 1.00 .18** .40** .35** 18 1.00 .09 −.02 19 1.00 .61** 20 1.00 21 Note. Correlation is significant at *p < .05 and **p < .01 (2-tailed). 1 = Facebook; 2 = Twitter; 3 = YouTube; 4 = Media Relations; 5 = Crisis Management; 6 = Publicity; 7 = Employee/Internal Communications; 8 = Special Events; 9 = Community Relations; 10 = Reputation Management; 11 = Product/Brand Communication; 12 = Public Affairs/Governmental Relations; 13 = Annual/Quarterly Reports; 14 = Environmental Scanning; 15 = CauseRelated Marketing/Social Marketing; 16 = Financial/Investor Relations; 17 = Enhancing Impact of Social Media Use; 18 = Aggravating Impact of Social Media Use; 19 = Communication Professionals’ Leadership Behaviors; 20 = Time-Based Work-Life Conflict; 21 = Strain-Based Work-Life Conflict. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Table 3. Correlation Matrix of Measured Variables (N = 458). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 33 34 H. JIANG ET AL. variance in the dependent variable [(F change (1, 303) = 9.55, p = .001, ΔR2 = .02)]. Furthermore, the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication explained a final additional 1% of the variance after the influence of three key social media tools adoption, social media use in the 13 key strategic communication functions, and the enhancing impact of social media use upon professionals’ work was controlled for [(F change (1, 302) = 3.19, p < .05, ΔR2 = .01)]. The use of Facebook (t = 3.10, p < .01, β = .19) and YouTube (t = 2.01, p < .05, β = .12) in strategic communication, the use of social media in environmental scanning (t = 2.53, p < .01, β = .14), the enhancing impact of social media use (t = 3.08, p < .01, β = .19), and the aggravating impact of social media use (t = 1.79, p < .05, β = .10) were significant positive predictors of communication professionals’ leadership behaviors. Interestingly, the significant effect of social media use in media relations (t = 2.32, p < .05, β = .14) on communication professionals’ leadership behaviors in model 3 became insignificant when the enhancing impact of social media use in strategic communication was added into the model, which indicated that participants’ perceived enhancing impact of social media use in their work fully mediated the effect of social media use in media relations on professionals’ leadership behaviors. Therefore, hypothesis 3 was supported. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were partially supported. The aggravating impact of social media use was found significantly but positively associated with professionals’ leadership behaviors. It seemed that strategic social media use enhanced professionals’ leadership behaviors even when it contributed to heavier workload, longer working hours, and increased job stress. Hypothesis 4 was not supported. R3, H5a-H6b, & H7a-H7b: Time-based and strain-based work-life conflict Based on the results of hierarchical regression analyses, the authors found that only the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication accounted for 17% of the variance in professionals’ perceived time-based work-life conflict [(F change (3, 317) = 18.61, p < .001, ΔR2 = .13)] and 12% of the variance in professionals’ perceived strain-based work-life conflict [(F change (3, 317) = 18.61, p < .001, ΔR2 = .13)], when the linear combination of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use, the linear combination of social media use in the 13 key strategic communication functions, and the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use upon professionals’ work were all controlled for. The aggravating impact of social media use on professionals’ work (t = 8.33, p < .001, β = .44) significantly predicted their level of perceived time-based work-life conflict. However, the significant effect of social media use in crisis management (t = 2.15, p < .05, β = .14) on timebased work-life conflict in model 4 became insignificant when the aggravating impact of social media use in strategic communication was added into the model. This finding suggested that participants’ perceived aggravating impact of social media use in their work fully mediated the effect of social media use in crisis management on their perceived level of time-based work-life conflict. Moreover, the use of social media in public affairs/governmental relations (t = 2.37, p < .01, β = .14) and the aggravating impact of social media use on professionals’ work (t = 6.94, p < .001, β = .39) were two significant predictors of professionals’ level of perceived strain-based work-life conflict. H6a and H6b were supported, but H5a and H5b were rejected. Because communication professionals’ leadership behaviors significantly predicted neither time-based work-life conflict nor strain-based work-life conflict, H7a and H7b were also rejected (see Figure 2 for a simplified model with all statistically significant standardized path coefficients labeled out). Conclusions and discussion Using the E-leadership theory (Avolio et al., 2014; Gurr, 2004) from the management literature as an umbrella framework, this study examined the impact of social media use on communication professionals’ strategic communication work, leadership behaviors, and their perceptions of work- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 35 Facebook The Enhancing Impact of Social Media Use Twitter .13** .19** Time-Based Work-Life Conflict .14** YouTube .11* .28*** Employee/Internal Communications .19** Professionals’ Leadership Behaviors .12* .44*** Cause-related Marketing/Social Marketing .14** .12* Media Relations Crisis Management .10* .13* .14* The Aggravating Impact of Social Media Use .39*** Environmental Scanning Strain-Based Work-Life Conflict .14* Public Affairs/ Governmental Relations Figure 2. Simplified model with standardized path coefficients. Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001, one-tailed test. life conflict. Particularly, the present study marked a pioneering initiative to investigate how communication professionals’ strategic social media practices relate to the positive and negative impact of social media use upon their work, how their strategic social media practices and the impact of social media use in strategic communication functions influence professionals’ leadership behaviors, and finally how social media use, its impact, and professionals’ leadership behaviors are all associated with their perceived occupational well-being. Enhancing vs. aggravating effects of social media use in strategic communication practices Despite the prevalence of social media use in organizations, few studies have examined the effects of social media on the completion of work-related tasks (Cao et al., 2012; Tsay et al., 2012), especially in communication industry. The extant literature suggested some enhancing impact of social media use on job performance. For instance, employees may gain flexibility in technologically mediated work, working hours, and locations (e.g., telework) (e.g., Golden & Geisler, 2007). On the other hand, adopting digital technologies at work may result in some aggravating effects such as the availability pressure to respond immediately to work-related issues even during off work time at home (Golden, 2013). Consistent with previous literature, the results of this study indicated that communication professionals’ use of specific social media tools and their strategic social media use in specific strategic communication functions may lead to both enhancing and aggravating impact of social media upon their communication work. In particular, the more frequently communication professionals used YouTube for job purposes, the more they realized the way social media practices could enhance their work. A strategic and extensive social media use in media relations, employee/internal communications, and cause-related marketing/social marketing helped professionals to improve their ability to do their job, increase their productivity, obtain more flexibility in the hours they need to work, enhance their ability to share their ideas with coworkers, and strengthen their professional relationships. On the other hand, an intensive use of Twitter in communication work and use of social media tools in employee/ 36 H. JIANG ET AL. internal communications and crisis management resulted in communication professionals’ increased working hours, workload, and job stress. Surprisingly, the results revealed no significant relationship between Facebook use in strategic communication functions and positive and negative social media impact upon communication professionals’ work. Future research is thus needed to further explore the strategic role of Facebook use in strategic communication practices. Moreover, communication professionals seemed to have used Twitter in a way that made their work even busier and more stressful. More studies are called for to explore how Twitter can potentially enhance or may have enhanced professionals’ work by helping them to finish work more efficiently and build supportive networks in and outside of their organizations. Although YouTube was identified as a social media tool that facilitated professionals’ work in the present study, researchers and professionals need to figure out how that works and if not used appropriately, how it may extend the hours professionals spend at their job, expand their job responsibilities, and increase their job stress. Although social media management in employee/ internal communications is not extensively studied in strategic communication scholarship, it is worthy of scholars’ and professionals’ efforts to investigate how to accomplish an optimal use of social media in this key strategic communication function. The present study did uncover both its positive and negative impact upon professionals’ work. Future research is also needed to further examine the underlying mechanisms accounting for the significant positive relationship between the enhancing impact of social media use and cause-related marketing/social marketing and media relations, as well as the significant negative relationship between crisis management and the aggravating impact of social media use. Moreover, this study failed to support the statistically significant relationships between social media impact on communication work and use of social media in several key strategic communication functions (i.e., Publicity, Special Events, Community Relations, Reputation Management, Product/Brand Communication, Public Affairs/Governmental Relations, Annual/Quarterly Reports, Environmental Scanning, and Financial/Investor Relations), which obviously remains an important direction for future research on social media management in strategic communication. Finally, future quantitative and qualitative research is also needed to investigate how communication professionals use various social media tools and how their social media management in various strategic communication functions are related to their perceptions of the way social media use impacts their daily work. In addition, more studies are called for to probe how communication professionals utilize the functionalities of different social media platforms and how and why they use them in different communication functions, which ultimately contributes to the enhancing and/or aggravating effects of social media use upon professional communication work. Strategic social media use leading to excellent E-leadership behaviors The extant research on social media and communication leadership supported a positive linkage between strategic social media management and communication leadership behaviors (Agostino, 2013; Carim & Warwick, 2013; Cho et al., 2014; Estanyol, 2012; Hong, 2013; Meng & Berger, 2013; Porter et al., 2007). By extending E-leadership (Avolio et al., 2014) to involve strategic communication functions, the results of the present study showed that using Facebook and YouTube in their work helped E-leaders in communication departments to understand an organization’s internal and external environments, adapt communication strategies to accomplish organizational goals, inspire other organizational members to share common visions reflecting key organizational values, facilitate team collaboration across different organizational units, adhere to professional standards and codes of ethics, cultivate mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its strategic publics, participate in internal strategic decision making, and apply communication knowledge to develop effective communication strategies. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION 37 Likewise, proactive social media management for environmental scanning advanced professionals’ leadership behaviors. In other words, integrating social media management with strategic communication functions enabled these E-leaders in this study to create various capitals suggested in previous studies (e.g., Deans, 2011; Mandviwalla & Watson, 2014) such as human, social, and organizational capital, which in turn allowed these communication professionals to demonstrate effective leadership behaviors. Despite the enhancing and aggravating consequences upon their work by an extensive use of social media, professionals’ developed capabilities, increased productivity, prolonged flexible working hours, advanced professional networks, and even what they went through when facing demanding workload and job stress all helped them to play a leadership role in strategic communication management. Furthermore, the enhancing and aggravating impact of social media use completely mediated the influence of the use of Twitter, YouTube, and social media use in employee/internal communications, cause-related marketing/social marketing, media relations, and crisis management on professionals’ leadership behaviors. Future research is needed to find out how to strategically use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in strategic communication and how social media can be best practiced in key strategic communication functions, as social media use can indirectly influence how professionals play their leadership role in communication management. Future studies are also called for to further examine the associations between leadership behaviors with other social media tools and the use of them in various strategic communications functions. More importantly, researchers should scrutinize how communication professionals manage social media and how such strategic management contributes to the development of communication leadership behaviors longitudinally. Social media, leadership behaviors, & work-life interface In the social media era, it is pivotal for both scholars and managers to think about how the prevalence of social media use may influence employees’ and in particular, communication professionals’ physical and psychological well-being. On the one hand, adopting social media in the workplace may create great flexibility for professionals to work at a convenient location and time, improve their work productivity, or reward them with additional time and energy to fulfill their family responsibilities. On the other hand, technologically mediated work also creates unintended negative outcomes including extended working hours, increased workload, and more stress, which can in return contribute to a high level of conflict between their work and personal life (Golden, 2013; Golden & Geisler, 2007; Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014). In addition, professionals who perform leadership behaviors and fulfill leadership responsibilities usually encounter very demanding job expectations (e.g., time pressures, stressful hours). Their stringent work responsibilities may remain largely incompatible with their family requirements. Consequently, they become especially susceptible to work-life conflict (McCarthy et al., 2010; Shelton et al., 2008; Stock et al., 2014). In accordance with what prior literature predicted, when professionals realized that social media use in their work actually made them work even longer hours and increased their workload as well as job stress, they tended to perceive a high level of time-based and strain-based work-life conflict. In addition, the more social media tools that professionals used in practicing public affairs/governmental relations, the higher their perceived level of stain-based work-life conflict. Public affairs/ governmental relations professionals thus may need extra supportive resources and networks to help them reconcile the conflict and be better off in both professional and personal arenas. Finally, being fully engaged on Twitter for work purposes and being intensively involved in social media use for employee/internal communications and crisis management indirectly affected professionals’ strainbased work-life conflict through their perceived aggravating impact of social media upon their work. Therefore, strategic Twitter use and social media management in employee/internal communications and crisis management remain an important topic for scholars and professionals to further examine. How can organizations accomplish excellent communication management via social media, but without compromising professionals’ occupational and personal well-being? 38 H. JIANG ET AL. Theoretical and practical implications of the study Based on this study’s findings, the authors generated several theoretical implications that need to be further examined in future communication scholarship on social media, leadership, and work-life conflict. First, by applying the communication leadership theory (Meng & Berger, 2013) and the E-leadership theory (Avolio et al., 2001, 2014) in a social media management context, this study not only tested these theories’ power and utility but also filled a specific void by addressing the connection between excellent communication leadership behaviors and best communication management practices in the digital age (Meng & Berger, 2013; McKie & Willis, 2015). Second, as an integral part of scholarship on communication professionals’ occupational and psychological well-being, work-life conflict has not been extensively examined in relation to social media practices. This study thus adds a valuable perspective into the existing yet limited communication research on work-life conflict (e.g., Aldoory et al., 2008; Jiang, 2012; Jiang & Shen, 2013). Future research is needed to further theorize this body of knowledge in the strategic communication discipline and generate helpful managerial implications and suggestions to deal with this issue. Finally, this study suggests an area which is highly under-investigated. In social media scholarship, researchers have overemphasized the impact of social media use upon management of communication programs. To advance people’s understanding of its impact upon individual communication professionals’ (a critical internal public) daily work performance, perceptions of their professional and personal well-being, effectiveness, and excellent leadership behaviors, this study made a significant first step. Practical implications, limitation, and future research This study has some practical implications, especially for communication professionals’ social media management. Future research is needed to discover the features of social media and connect them to the variables in the present study. This study is also merely based on one national sample of communication professionals. The findings cannot be generalized beyond the current study’s scope. Future research is needed to theorize on social media use, communication leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict, by sampling members of international professional communication organizations, such as International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and International Association of Business Communication (IABC). Last but not the least, qualitative research may help uncover individual professionals’ narratives that explain how social media use, its impact, leadership behaviors, and work-life conflict are all interrelated to one another. The integrated E-leadership conceptual model is preliminary at the current stage and needs to be further developed in future scholarly research and professional communication practices. References Agostino, D. (2013). Using social media to engage citizens: A study of Italian municipalities. 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