Effects of Social Media on Mental Health in the Workplace

Effects of Social Media on Mental Health in the Workplace
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June 19th, 2022
Abstract
The proliferation of social media has eased communication globally. People use social media for news, entertainment, and meeting spots. These functions have led to most people getting addicted. In the workplace, social media can be an instrumental communication tool. However, it can affect the performance of employees and cause them mental illnesses. This study researched the effects of social media on mental health in workplaces. It used a sample of 16 people; 8 in the managerial position and 8 in the human resource position. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and then analyzed using the SPSS software. The results showed that social media addiction leads to mental illness in most employees. Therefore, employers should devise ways to help their employees use social media efficiently to reduce mental illnesses and increase or maintain employee productivity.

Table of Contents
Effects of Social Media on Mental Health in the Workplace. 1
Abstract 2
Introduction. 5
Purpose of the study. 6
Hypothesis. 6
Research Question. 6
Methodology. 7
Research Approach/Design. 7
Participants. 8
Materials. 9
Data Collection Procedures: 10
Data Analysis Procedures. 10
Results. 11
Discussion. 15
Conclusion. 18
References. 19
Appendices. 21
Questionnaire. 21
 

Introduction
Technological advancement has made the world interconnected through social media. People communicate and learn about global trending political, social, and economic issues through social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Continuous and uncontrolled use of social media leads to addiction which is dangerous for users' mental health and their performance in the workplace. Most social media users like to share positive and good things in their lives and withhold the negatives. This creates an exaggerated image on social media that will likely pressure others to achieve the same. This may affect their mental health. Social media affects the employer's performance in the workplace because most people are likely to spend more time on social media than they would have spent working on their responsibilities.
Social media use has grown over the past few decades. People from all age brackets have adopted the use of social media networks. Bashir and Bhat (2017) argue that the younger generation, the active workforce, is the most active on social media and susceptible to its effects. These youths often compare their workplace culture with others on social media, causing mental health issues. Excess social media use also puts people in a virtual world, causing loneliness, anxiety, and depression, according to Sadagheyani and Tatari (2020). Besides, social media use leads to workplace burnout, with most people failing to balance social media use with their work responsibilities, according to Han et al. (2020). Nonetheless, Sadagheyani and Tatari (2020) note that social media increase the base for access to healthcare and workplace information, which is a good thing for social media users. Therefore, this research will investigate the perspectives of HR professionals and managers on the use of social media and its impact on mental health in the workplace.
Purpose of the study
This study aims to understand the perspectives of HR professionals and managers on the use of social media and its impact on mental health in the workplace. This research will be conducted through a semi-structured questionnaire, classifying participants via their employer/ managerial levels. There are no potential benefits to the individuals involved in completing this questionnaire; thus, the feedback received will provide relevant evidence to help support the conclusion of this research report. Ultimately, this research is being directed to answer the following question: "what are the effects of social media on mental health in the workplace?"
Hypothesis
* Social media has both positive and negative impacts on employees' mental health and workplace performance
Research Question
Ї Does the use of social media positively or negatively impact employees' mental health in the workplace?
Methodology
Research Design
A research methodology has multiple dimensions, and it also encompasses research methods. By definition, research methods are the techniques that are incorporated in the process of conducting research (Fowler, 2014). They are methods used in carrying out research operations and encompass the instruments used in selecting and constructing a research technique (McBurney & White, 2013).
This research will investigate the perspectives of HR professionals and managers on the use of social media and its impact on mental health in the workplace. The guiding question is, "what are the effects of social media on mental health at workplaces?"
The study methodology will adopt descriptive research. Descriptive research aims to gain new insights, put forward a hypothesis, formulate a research problem, and become familiar with a phenomenon. The ultimate goal is to determine whether or not social media usage impacts mental health in the workplace positively or negatively and why. Using the questionnaire survey, the study will classify the participants according to their management levels and perspectives on social media users to understand mental health stability levels in the workplace using the five point-Likert scale against the selected variables. It will help determine the impact of their perspectives in the general workplace environment because it allows participants to express their attitudes (Cheng et al., 2021). In the implementation, the study will use an experimental design.
This takes quantitative research based on quantifying data and generalizing the results from the sample to the population of interest (Norris et al., 2015). More specifically, it will examine the relationship between people's perspectives in managerial positions on social media and workplace mental health. In the process, it will use statistical analysis to represent their relationship.
The research philosophy refers to the belief about the means of data assembly. There are two categories which are positivist and interpretivist philosophies. On the one hand, positivists are researchers who believe that reality is stable and can be defined from an unbiased perspective. On the other hand, interpretivism argues that intervention and comprehensive interpretation are the only factors that can lead to a full understanding of reality (Crossan, 2003). The latter suggests that the various existing interpretations of reality are a subsection of the scientific knowledge they pursue. Often, it is used for detailed analysis of qualitative data representing a small sample to understand the implications of the data to a larger group. Some well-known interpretivism includes Freud, Marx, and Kant (Kumar, 2012). The former philosophy, which is the positivist philosophy, relies on manipulating reality with changes in a particular independent variable to result in regularities that establish relationships between them. Here, the relationships also refer to the components of the social world. Up to the 1970s, interpretive research used to be the widely known choice of research philosophy. However, afterward, the positivist tradition took over and became the norm. Some famously known positivists include Durkheim and Descartes (Kumar, 2012). This study will use the positivist philosophy because it uses quantitative data.
Participants
The study will have a sample size of sixteen participants comprising eight Human Resource professionals and eight managers. While collecting primary data from the respondents, I will observe ethical norms and guidelines that influence the credibility and legitimacy of the collected data. Most importantly, confidentiality will be upheld in a good way. During the selection of the respondents, the participants will be approached, and they will be informed that I am conducting an ongoing study regarding the use of social media in the workplace. Next, they will be asked if they would voluntarily wish to participate in the study. They will be reminded that their participation should be entirely voluntary and that the study results will only be used for educational purposes. Also, anonymity will be observed in an undisputed manner (Goddard & Melville, 2011). After the potential respondents agree to participate in the study, a copy of the questionnaire will be given.
Additionally, a consent form will be created inviting the participants to the research survey in the form of a letter. This letter will indicate the study's main objective (Stebbins, 2001). It is to gather information from individuals in managerial positions concerning how social media influences mental health in the workplace. By signing the letter, the participant will consent to their participation and the use of the information they share.
Materials
Data will be collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. A questionnaire is a tool for recording and collecting information about a topic of interest (Wade, 2004). It will contain questions and clear instructions that aim to identify the impacts of social media use in the workplace from the perspectives of top management and HR professionals. The questionnaire will have questions asking the participants if their company has a policy regarding the use of social media; requesting participants to provide a rating from one to five on their familiarity with the following social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn; whether or not their company uses social media to promote mental health awareness; if their company has had any recent incidents of stress, bullying or addiction concerning the use of social media; and what they would say the overall impact is of social media in their workplace, positive or negative.
Data Collection Procedures:
The design of the questionnaire will reflect the specific objectives in regards to the research. The semi-structured questionnaire will be sent to the participants through the website to obtain the needed data. The link to the questionnaire will be sent to the participants for filling. Unarguably, an online survey is affordable and more convenient. Next, the feedback will be entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Then, the data will be entered into the dataset according to the measurement level because all of them are input.
Data Analysis Procedures
Quantitative data can capture any data that can be expressed as numbers. For this research, SPSS will be used to analyze the collected data. This software is helpful to researchers in the process of processing and analyzing data (Ott & Longnecker, 2010). For this study, the tool will be indispensable in analyzing data from the online website. The data will be imported into SPSS through the excel file, and graphs will be constructed accordingly.
Results
The study used sixteen participants, eight being human resource managers and the remaining eight holding the manager positions. Data collection was done using a semi-structured questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire contained questions aimed at identifying the participant f...