Sensemaking of social media management: Seizing affordances in a dynamic complex environment

Abstract

Background: Social Media (SM) growth and its acceptance at various economic levels are making it obligatory to make sense of its management in different business environments. A business environment can be volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, static-complex, simple-dynamic with a few similar, continuously changing factors, or simple-static with a few similar, unchanging factors. The environment is exemplified by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, regional war, globalisation, the fourth industrial revolution and disruptive technology. Regulatory focus theory was used to examine whether managers adopt a prevention or promotion focus to SM use, shed light on employees’ attitudes and whether regulatory focus affected the measures taken toward SM management.

Objectives: The purpose of this paper was to explore how designed SM platforms can be managed in the face of dynamic and complex environments.

Method: Experts’ interviews from various organisations were selected using snowball sampling to gather qualitatively rich data. The data were analysed thematically using ATLAS.ti software.

Results: Prevention through reengineering processes, increased use of algorithms, information technology (IT) investments and restricting SM to private use only were observed among experts. Additionally, promotion-focus managers allow employees to use SM for work-related tasks and use monitoring software.

Conclusion: Information technology investments, sizing SM affordances and sensemaking SM management is becoming mandatory given the dynamic nature or pace at which the environment is changing.

Contribution: The study contributed practical, social mediations, generated and qualitative method choice in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data.