Abstract:
This study was designed to determine the drivers of posting strategic organizational
information on social media by employees at Kenya Civil Aviation Authority a state
agency in Kenya. Social media though enhance efficiency in transaction of business in
organizations, have also brought in challenges. Employees have been found guilty of
generating content pertaining to the organization’s business strategy and post it online
using their internet-enabled smartphones which reside outside full control of the
organizations. Such content could go viral before being noticed by management and
could injure the business of the organization. Yet establishing organizations and careers
require huge resources and when any organization goes under many stakeholders lose
their source of livelihood. In addition, unemployment rate becomes a challenge to the
government. Previous studies have demonstrated how organizations and employees
suffered from the effect of social media content they post. The aim of this study was to
find out why employees post strategic organizational information on social media. The
research questions were: why do employees post strategic organizational information on
social media? What are the effects of posting strategic organizational information on
organizations and employees? What strategies were in place to mitigate posting of
strategic organizational information on social media? The research approach was
qualitative and the research method was a case study. The sampling technique was
purposive, where twenty-two participants were sampled from a population of
management and employees from the organization. Seventeen employees based at
Eldoret branch, two Human resource managers (Administration and Training),
Information Communication Technology (ICT) manager, Corporate Communication
Manager and Manager in-charge of consumer protection based at the Head Office
Nairobi participated in the study. Data was generated using interview schedules and
analyzed thematically. The study established that posting of strategic organizational
information through social media was driven by personality, working environment and
social networking. Posting of strategic information affects both the organization and
employees. A part from mainstream media regulations and firewalls within the
organization, there were no social media regulations to regulate use of social media in the
organization. The need for information flow was a concern to the employees in
organization that the management may enhance so that employees get information on
time to avoid anxiety which could be expressed in the form of grapevine and strategic
information be defined clearly to every employee and be informed about the consequence
of sharing such information. The management may create some forum where employees
air their views without being victimized. The organization may also come up with social
media regulations and communicate to the employees in order to leverage on social
media. Finally, the study recommended further studies to be carried out to establish
whether mainstream media regulations apply to social media use in organizations in
Kenya. This study did not consider this aspect for it was necessitated by its conclusion.