Social networks and social media: Understanding and managing influence vulnerability in a connected society

Patrick F. Bruning, Bradley J. Alge and Hsin-Chen Lin

Business Horizons, 2020, vol. 63, issue 6, 749-761

Abstract: Influence vulnerability has recently become a concern across society and in business. Such vulnerabilities increase as social networks are leveraged by different entities, oftentimes through social media, to affect how we think and behave. While many instances of social influence are positive and beneficial, others can be quite negative and lead to harmful outcomes for organizations and individuals such as reputational damage and an inability to control desirable thoughts, narratives, and behaviors. In general, they can decrease people’s freedom of thought and behavior. This article draws on the concepts of social embeddedness and network commitment to outline people’s influence vulnerabilities. It then proposes three guidelines to help reduce influence vulnerabilities based on the concepts of trustworthiness, network commitment, and self-management.

Keywords: Network commitment; Social influence; Social media; Social networks; Social embeddedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bushor:v:63:y:2020:i:6:p:749-761

DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2020.07.007

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