Remote work has become integral to contemporary work life, necessitating a detailed examination of its effects on employees’ sense of community and support – key factors influencing knowledge sharing, team performance, and well-being at work. To this end, this study examines how the adjustments made to working arrangements and workplace communication during and after the COVID-19 pandemic have affected employees’ sense of community and social support at work. The study is based on a longitudinal dataset including 544 participants, with 4352 observations collected during eight time points between 2019 and 2022. The data were analysed using a linear multilevel hybrid regression model. The results show that although remote workers, especially those with high-intensity remote work, experience less social community and support from co-workers, frequent social media communication (both work-related and nonwork-related) can mitigate some of these effects. The results provide a novel understanding of the evolution and effects of remote work configurations and employees’ use of social media for professional and personal communication in the post-pandemic era. The findings also provide valuable insights for workplaces, highlighting the importance of establishing and maintaining social communities, and enabling forums for social support from colleagues and supervisors in remote work configurations.

panel Share on Approaches to leveraging digital higher education in Africa. Authors: Edward Peter Greenwood White Tampere University, Finland Tampere University, Finland 0000-0002-7046-2740View Profile , Jussi Okkonen Tampere University, Finland Tampere University, Finland 0000-0002-7207-045XView Profile , Reeta Oksa Tampere University, Finland Tampere University, Finland 0000-0002-8007-4653View Profile , Benjamin Ghansah University of Education, Winneba, Ghana University of Education, Winneba, Ghana 0000-0002-1599-6301View Profile , Christopher Yarkwah University of Cape Coast, Ghana University of Cape Coast, Ghana 0000-0003-2446-8188View Profile , Ephrem Kwaa-Aidoo University of Education, Winneba, Ghana University of Education, Winneba, Ghana 0000-0002-2118-9098View Profile , Issifu Yidana University of Education, Winneba, Ghana University of Education, Winneba, Ghana 0009-0008-0877-2984View Profile , Wilson Osafo Apeanti University of Education, Winneba, Ghana University of Education, Winneba, Ghana 0000-0001-9264-5006View Profile , Rosemary Twum University of Cape Coast, Ghana University of Cape Coast, Ghana 0000-0002-8823-7701View Profile Authors Info & Claims COMPASS '23: Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable SocietiesAugust 2023Pages 152–154https://doi.org/10.1145/3588001.3609380Published:16 August 2023Publication History 0citation31DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads31Last 12 Months31Last 6 weeks30 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Social media use in professional organisations can have several psychological and physiological consequences. The aim of this study was to examine how social media is used in five professional organisations from distinct occupational fields and how such use relates to job demands, job resources, and personal resources. We collected survey data (N = 563) to analyze professional social media use. We also conducted theory-driven content analysis utilising focus group interviews (N = 52). Based on the results, internal and external social media platforms were mainly used for content following and sharing as well as communication with work communities. Social media use was not identified very straining or conflicting with private life. Those using social media more often experienced more strain and conflict but also considered social media more useful. Social media use was associated with job demands, such as physiological symptoms, fears, social pressure, and unclear rules, as well as job resources, such as organisational encouragement and support, social networks, information, and autonomy, and the personal resource of personal identity development. Professional social media use is perceived more as a job resource than as a job demand.