How can leaders alleviate employees' workplace anxiety caused by information overload on enterprise social media? Evidence from Chinese employees
研究企业社交媒体信息过载如何导致员工工作焦虑，并发现领导与下属的实用型关系能缓解焦虑，而情感型关系反而加剧焦虑，对管理者优化社交媒体策略有参考价值。
Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between information overload and employees' workplace anxiety in the context of enterprise social media (ESM). Design/methodology/approach This study built a theoretical model to analyze the relationships among employees' perceptions of information overload on ESM, supervisor-subordinate instrumental and expressive ties on ESM and workplace anxiety. PLS-SEM was used to test the model through 219 questionnaires collected online. Findings The results revealed that information overload on ESM plays a positive role in employees' workplace anxiety. Supervisor-subordinate instrumental ties based on ESM can weaken the relationship between information overload and employees' workplace anxiety, but expressive ties can strengthen the positive relationship between information overload and workplace anxiety. Originality/value Little is known about whether information overload on ESM will affect employees' workplace anxiety and how leaders can mitigate this effect through ESM. Hence, this study developed a theoretical model and conducted an empirical study to open up a research opportunity to examine the relationships among information overload on ESM, supervisor-subordinate instrumental and expressive ties on ESM and employees' workplace anxiety. The study also has the potential to guide organizations in fine-tuning their social media usage strategies.