SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER, AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES: EXAMINING THE MODERATING ROLE OF RESOURCE ACQUISITION ON JOB SATISFACTION AND INNOVATIVE WORK PERFORMANCE

Abstract

In the contemporary knowledge-driven workplace, social media usage has emerged as a critical organizational tool influencing how employees access, share, and generate knowledge. The use of social media has become one of the important contributors to knowledge sharing and performance of employees in modern organizations. But there are few studies focusing on how the use of social media can be used to transfer knowledge and increase job satisfaction and innovative work performance, especially when resources are limited. The present study utilizes a quantitative survey of cross-sectional type to investigate the social media usage effects on the job satisfaction and innovative work performance with the knowledge transfer proposed as a mediator and resource acquisition as a moderator. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was employed to gather data on 239 respondents. The hypotheses were tested with the help of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).The results indicate that the application of social media has a strong positive impact on job satisfaction and innovative work performance, as well as positively affects the transfer of knowledge. Moreover, the effect of the use of social media on the two outcome variables is mediated by knowledge transfer, which suggests that appropriate knowledge sharing processes can transform digital usage into better employee attitudes and performance. Nevertheless, the moderating effect of resource acquisition was not significant, and it is possible to assume that the availability of resources does not have a dramatic effect on the effects of social media use on job satisfaction and innovative performance in this situation. The study contributes to the growing literature on digital workplace behavior by highlighting the importance of knowledge transfer with the assistance of social media in enhancing employee performance. It also provides some insights that can be adopted by organizations that desire to utilize social media platforms to promote knowledge sharing and innovation particularly in the emerging economies.