Employees' Company Reputation-related Social Media Competence: Scale Development and Validation

Gianfranco Walsh, Mario Schaarschmidt and Harald von Kortzfleisch

Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2016, vol. 36, issue C, 46-59

Abstract: Cases in which employees' uses of social media harm their company's reputation highlight the need for a measure to evaluate employees' company reputation-related social media competence (RSMC). Drawing on reputation and human capital theory and data from four occupationally diverse samples of employees, this study develops and validates a new, multidimensional measure of RSMC, or an employee's ability to use social media without causing harm to the employer's reputation. Exploratory factor analyses, first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses, and structural equation modeling all provide strong evidence of the convergent, discriminant, known-group, and nomological validities of the proposed RSMC scale. The higher-order RSMC construct also relates to job demands and resources and to two behavioral outcomes: bad mouthing and positive word of mouth. The RSMC scale also exhibits test–retest reliability and ecological validity. Thus, the new scale offers both research directions and managerial implications.

Keywords: Employees' company reputation-related social media competence; Scale development; Validation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joinma:v:36:y:2016:i:c:p:46-59

DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2016.05.001

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