Exploring the Effect of Organization-Employee Relationships on Employee Communication Behaviors on Social Media: The Moderating Role of Position Level

Public Policy Relevance Statement Symmetrical communication has a positive impact on organization-employee relationships, which is stronger among employees with lower level positions. Good organization-employee relationships encourage employees to seek and process information on social media. Organizations can obtain insights into maintaining favorable relationships with employees and improving their communication behaviors on social media. Social media has played an important role in facilitating employee communication behaviors. Based on an organization-public relationship model and the situational theory of publics, this study proposed and tested a model to examine the effect of symmetrical communication on employees' perceived relationships with their organization. It further investigated how organization-employee relationships affected employees' communication behaviors on social media. The researcher conducted a national survey of 449 employees working at large organizations in the United States and found that symmetrical communication had a positive effect on organization-employee relationships, which led employees to seek and process information on social media. Moreover, employees' position level in the organization negatively moderated the relationship between symmetrical communication and organization-employee relationships. The theoretical and practical implications of this study were also discussed.