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Altayyar, Khalid (2025) The impact of social media use on organisational commitment in higher education in Saudi Arabia. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

The use of social media has expanded in our daily lives, including at work, due to its global popularity in recent years. Social media includes a wide range of internet-based applications. A few studies have been conducted to understand how employees use the underlying social media platforms at the workplace and how their use impacts employee commitment. The research indicates that employees often use social media for both work-related and non-work-related purposes in the workplace. Nevertheless, the literature continues to debate whether using social media in the workplace is a waste of time or a source of motivation. Also, the literature reveals contrasting results for both the positive and negative impacts of social media use on organisational commitment. This thesis therefore aims to examine this phenomenon guided organisational commitment theory to understand the impact of the use of social media in the workplace on organisational commitment and its three components: affective, continuance, and normative.

This doctoral research employed a mixed-methods approach, using three studies to better understand the phenomenon of workplace social media usage and its impact on organisational commitment. The first quantitative study, involving 750 Saudi faculty members in higher education, aimed to understand how faculty members use social media for work-related and non-work-related purposes. The second quantitative study, which included 314 faculty members, used an analytical framework to examine the impact of using social media for work-related and non-work-related purposes on organisational commitment and its three components. Finally, the third qualitative study interviewed twenty-one academic staff members to verify the findings and explain the quantitative results in depth.

Understanding the dual nature of social media use in the workplace is crucial for employees, employers, and organisations. Therefore, individuals perceive that using social media in the workplace can have both advantages and disadvantages. The research findings indicated that using social media for work-related purposes enhanced employees’ commitment to the organisation, engagement levels, and loyalty. This enhancement is achieved by improving communication via various platforms, such as WhatsApp and Twitter, facilitating collaboration and motivation, and fostering a sense of belonging within the workplace community with the support of managers and colleagues. This results in improved task completion and overall work quality. On the other hand, using social media at work for personal, social, or recreational reasons has a negative effect on employees' organisational commitment due to several factors, including distractions, time wastage, and mind wandering resulting from engagement with social media content, ultimately leading to diminished work quality or deferring task completion to the next day.

The thesis offers some implications for practice. First, it contributes to the higher education sector in Saudi Arabia, where universities have increasingly adopted social media use for professional purposes, reducing bureaucracy by simplifying task completion and speeding up procedures rather than waiting for managerial responses or approvals via an administrative communications system. Furthermore, it fosters professional networks and tracks recent employee work progress. Second, it contributes to and enhances operational efficiency by diminishing reliance on paper-based administrative correspondence, thereby facilitating the expedited and simplified completion of tasks. Third, it contributes to increasing employee loyalty and attachment to work. The findings' practical implications suggest that using social media for work-related purposes improves employee loyalty, motivation, and affiliation with the workplace by recognising their contributions via WhatsApp groups or the college's Twitter account, thereby increasing their commitment to performance and productivity.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Jain, Aditya Spedale, Simona
Keywords:	Social Media, social media use on, Organisational Commitment, Higher Education, Saudi Arabia
Subjects:	H Social sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education > Nottingham University Business School
Item ID:	82360
Depositing User:	ALTAYYAR, KHALID
Date Deposited:	11 Dec 2025 04:40
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2025 04:40
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/82360

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