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Does Social Media Increase Labour Productivity?

Author

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  • Sarbu Miruna

    (Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Gottlieb-Daimler-Strasse, Building 42, 67663Kaiserslautern, Germany)

Abstract

Social media applications such as wikis, blogs or social networks are being increasingly applied in firms. These applications can be used for external communication and internal knowledge management. Firms can potentially increase their productivity by optimising customer relationship management, marketing, market research and project management. On the other hand, the use of social media might lead to shirking among employees and might be, in general, very time-consuming preventing employees from managing their normal workload. This might lead to a decrease of labour productivity. This paper analyses the relationship between social media applications and labour productivity using firm-level data of 907 German manufacturing and service firms. The analysis is based on a Cobb-Douglas production function. The results reveal that social media might be related to labour productivity in an negative way which points towards a suboptimal use of social media.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarbu Miruna, 2017. "Does Social Media Increase Labour Productivity?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 237(2), pages 81-113, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:237:y:2017:i:2:p:81-113:n:4
    DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2017-0104
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social software; Web 2.0; social media; social software intensity; labour productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • M20 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - General
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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