Social media use and perceptions of strategy communication

The use of social media outside the company and the use of the case company’s internal social media were inquired upon in the survey. The questions can be found below. It needs to be noted, that all questions included options which to choose from, but the correlation coefficient was calculated using an average of all answers. In questions 1 and 2 the average was limited to the 5 social media tools, and other media were ignored. The questions and their options can be found in their entirety in Appendix 3.

1. How often do you FOLLOW the following media?

2. How often do you CONTRIBUTE to the following media?

7. How often do you FOLLOW KONE’s internal online media?

8. How often do you CONTRIBUTE to KONE’s internal online media? The correlations between questions 1, 2, 7 and 8 can be seen in Table 13 below.

Table 13: Correlation between use of external social media and internal online media (GTIN)

Questions being compared Correlation coefficient

Q1 Q2 0.66

Q1 Q7 0.16

Q2 Q8 0.23

Q7 Q8 0.33

As Table 13 demonstrates, there is a strong correlation between following and contributing to external social media, and a moderate correlation between following and contributing to KONE’s internal online media. There is also a weak correlation between following external social media and following KONE’s internal online media, Furthermote, between contributing to external social media and to internal online media there was a weak correlation discernible.

Similarly to earlier studies (e.g. Tilastokeskus, 2012) and unsurprisingly, the survey found that younger generations were more active in using external social media. There was a discernible difference between Gen Y and Gen X’s use of social media, in both following and contributing. The difference was less dramatic between Gen X and Baby Boomers. Figure 15 below shows the average frequency of following social media, clustered by age groups. Following that, Figure 16 shows the average frequency of contributing to social media, again clustered by age groups. The scale of 1-5 was converted to a numerical scale from the scale of Never  Occasionally  1-3 times a month  1-3 times a week  Daily.

Figure 15: Frequency of different age groups’ following of different social media (GTIN)

Figure 16: Frequency of different age groups’ contribution to different social media (GTIN)

As Figure 15 and Figure 16 show, the two youngest groups, which comprise the members of Generation Y, have a high usage level of social media services, in both following and contribution. Throughout the three following groups, which represent

1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 5,0

Follow Social networking services

Follow Microblogging services

Follow Photo or video services

FollowBlogs or discussion forums

Follow Collaboration tools

1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 5,0 Contribute to Social networking services Contribute to Microblogging services

Contribute to Photo or video services

Contribute to or discussion forums

Contribute to Collaboration tools

Generation X, there is a decline in the use of social media services in both following and contributing. Conversely, the following of collaboration tools was reasonably evenly distributed across different age groups.

On the other hand, contribution to microblogging services and discussion forums are clearly higher only in the youngest age group, whereas the other groups exhibit a lower level of use. It is also worth noting, that only social networking tools exhibit anywhere near similar levels for following and contributing. This suggests that they are the least skewed social media tools with respect to follower/contributor ratio. The implication here is that they constitute the most egalitarian medium, and that a small minority does not dictate the contents.

Comparing the frequency of social media use to perceived effectiveness of strategy communication and understanding of strategy did not yield any significant correlation. Thus, social media use by itself implies neither a more favorable perception of the effectiveness of strategy communication, nor a better understanding of the effects of strategy on the respondent’s work.

Although the management did not consider social media to be of crucial importance as an internal strategy communication tool at present, they still acknowledged its rising importance as part of the younger employees’ communication habits. The CCO noted how the generational differences affect an employee’s tendency to comment and contribute without the reservations that could otherwise become inhibitors:

”…the younger the generation, the more used they are to earnestly—first of all they dare express themselves, they have no fear that ’I’ll be sent to Siberia if I express myself.’” (CCO)

The comment above shows that the tendency of younger people to be more open and active in their communication. The statement somewhat parallels that of the DSD, who expressed the view that especially in the lower organizational levels a generational shift

is slowly taking place, and that the employees’ age is a significant contributor to their propensity to use new technology:

”…new young guys come as technicians, and today’s world is very close to them. So I could imagine that in 5-15 years there will be those who are very new media –oriented and know how to use these more modern gadgets…” (DSD)

To summarize, the understanding of the effects of strategic initiatives and the perceived effectiveness of strategy communication were better in higher organizational levels. A noticeable difference was seen between the two groups of operatives (the employees generally outside the reach of many of the strategy communication tools). The operative supervisors had a better understanding of the effects of strategy and perception of strategy communication than the operative technicians and specialists.

The respondents’ age and their length of employment also had an effect on their understanding of the effects of strategic initiatives on their work. The second oldest group of employees as well as the ones with the second longest employment period seemed to understand the effects best, although the differences were not dramatic. Younger respondents tended to use social media more. A high use of social media externally correlated positively with a high use of the case company’s internal online media. The frequency of social media use was not found to correlate with the perception of strategy communication or with the understanding of strategy.