Interdisciplinary Studies in Media and Culture

The Role of the use of Enterprise Social Media in the Relationship Work Stressors With Work Engagement

Document Type : .

Author

mostafa heidari haratemeh

Associate Professor of the Department of Economics, Naragh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Naragh, Iran

10.30465/ismc.2025.49079.2866
Abstract

Abstract :
Employees often encounter very work stressors in daily work, which influence their engagement in work. As work engagement is ssociated with employees’ well-being and performance, managers are interested in developing interventions to improve employees’work engagement. With the expansion of ESM in modern workplaces, the potential of using of ESM as as IT-based interventions for employees’ work engagementwill be of great importance. Therefore, the present study was considered with the aim of investigating the moderating role of using enterprise social media use in work engagement. Therefore, relying on the job demand-resources (JD-R) model, a research model was created to examine the moderating role of the use of work and non-work enterprise social media in the relationship between work stressors (challenge stressors and Hindrance stressors) and work engagement.The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of data collection. Based on the job demand-resources (JD-R) model, a research model was created to examine the moderating role of the use of work and non-work organizational social media in the relationship between work stressors (challenge stressors and inhibitory stressors) and job attachment. Research data were collected using a standard questionnaire and processed using Mplus software and the hierarchical ordinary least squares regression technique.The research model was tested using 420 valid responses collected through an online questionnaire in knowledge-based companies in Sheikh Bahai Science and Technology Park of Isfahan. challenge stressors are positively associated with work engagement while hindrance stressors are negatively associated with work engagement. also the relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement exhibits a U-shaped effect under the moderation of work-related ESM use but shows an inverted U-shaped effect under the moderation of nonwork-related ESM use. and Finally the relationship between hindrance stressors and work engagement also exhibits a U-shaped effect under the moderation of nonwork-related ESM use. Hindrance-stressed employees may need a relatively higher level of nonwork-related ESM use than challenge-stressed employees to achieve optimal work engagement. Therefore, a sophisticated strategy regarding nonwork-related ESM use is needed.
Keywords: Enterprise Social Media, Challenge and Iindrance Stressors, Work Engagement, Work and Non-Work Enterprise Social Media, Sheikh Bahai Science and Technology Park, Isfahan.
Introduction:
Work engagement, which “entails high levels of mental and physical energy, perseverance, willingness to invest effort in one’s job tasks as well as involvement in one’s work, a sense of significance, pride, and enthusiasm”, is an important consideration within organizations as it is a key sign of employees’ positive well-being and predictor of performance. The job demands-resources (JD-R) model, which divides work conditions into job resources and job demands, and suggests that job resources have a positive influence on employees’ work engagement while job demands appraised as challenges (challenge stressors) are positively associated with work engagement and job demands appraised as hindrances (hindrance stressors) are negatively related to it. Interventions for employees’ work engagement requires greater attention because of the emergence of social information technologies (ITs) in the modern workplace, particularly enterprise social media (ESM). ESM is a set of internet-based applications that enable employees to create and edit content, communicate work- and nonwork-related messages, facilitate information and knowledge sharing among workers and stakeholders, allow employees to enjoy entertainment and personal social interaction among colleagues, friends and family during working hours. Therefore, interventions for employees' work engagement require more attention due to the emergence of social information technologies in the modern work environment, especially organizational social media (ESM). By supporting work- and nonwork-related activities, ESM is considered as a solution for employees’ work engagement. The use of organizational social media has a moderating role in the impact of challenging stressors and i hindrance stressors on work engagement. Employees often encounter very work stressors in daily work, which influence their engagement in work. As work engagement is associated with employees’ well-being and performance, managers are interested in developing interventions to improve employees’ work engagement. With the expansion of ESM in modern workplaces, the potential of using of ESM as as IT-based interventions for employees’ work engagement will be of great importance. Therefore, in a special way, the present study poses the question: "How does the use of work and non-work organizational social media moderate the relationship between work stressors (challenging and hindrance stressors) and work engagement ?" Therefore, the present study was considered with the aim of investigating the moderating role of using organizational social media in work engagement.


Materials and Methods:
Based on the job demand-resources (JD-R) model, a research model was created to examine the moderating role of the use of work and non-work organizational social media in the relationship between work stressors (challenge stressors and hindrance stressors stressors) and work engagement. The research model was tested by using 420 valid responses collected through an online questionnaire in science-based companies in Sheikh Bahai Science and Technology Park, Isfahan. To test the hypotheses, linear main effects and nonlinear moderating effects were analyzed using Mplus software and hierarchical ordinary least squares regression technique.

Discussion and Results:
The results showed: a) challenge stressors were found to be positively associated with work engagement while hindrance stressors were negatively associated with work engagement. b) the positive relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement exhibits a U-shaped effect under the moder- ation of work-related ESM use, which is contrary to the hypothesis; it is strongest under intermediate levels of work-related ESM use but comparatively weaker when work-related ESM use is low or high.It may be related to the improvement of employees’ ability in processing information as they become more familiar with ESM to handle their job demands. studies have also shown that experienced IT users are able to handle information effectively and efficiently, and less likely to feel information overload relative to novice users. Thus, although engaged employees may be distracted by messages they received from ESM, they can reengage in work quickly because of their rich information processing experience. c) the quadratic moderation effect of work-related ESM use on the relationship between hindrance stressors and work engagement is not significant. partially attribute this result to employees’ negative attitude toward hindrance stressors. Although work-related ESM use can bring job resources such as work-related information for hindrance-stressed employees, they may not be motivated to process and absorb such information, transform it into their own personal resource, and leverage them to buffer the detrimental influence of hindrance stressors on work engagement due to the negativeimpacts of these stressors to their performance and personal growth. d) the positive relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement shows an inverted U-shaped effect under the moderation of nonwork-related ESM use. That is, only with intermediate levels of nonwork-related ESM use can challenge-stressed employees be engaged in their work at highest level. Finally, the relationship between hindrance stressors and work engagement exhibits a U-shaped effect under the moderation effectof nonwork-related ESM use. In other words, when nonwork-related ESM use is at an intermediate level, hindrance-stressed employees’ work engagement would be at the lowest level.


Conclusion:
The influence of challenge and hindrance stressors on work engagement depends on both ESM use types and ESM use intensity, managers should take the types of work stressors into consideration when implement ESM. First, since a U-shaped moderation of work-related ESM use in the relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement is found, we suggest managers to employ ESM for work-related purposes, but they should not only encourage challenge-stressed employees to use ESM to obtain job resources but also arrange ESM training that help them improve their experience and abilities in processing the abundant work-related messages they received, so as to avoid experiencing negative effects of ESM (e.g., information overload and ESM-related exhaustion). Second, our findings support the necessity of nonwork-related ESM use in organizations, as it can empower all employees to in-crease work engagement. However, managers may design rules to restrict nonwork-related ESM use to a reasonable level, which can benefit both challenge- and hindrance-stressed employees. Our findings indicate that the ideal level of nonwork-related ESM use is different for challenge- and hindrance-stressed employees. Hindrance-stressed employees may need a relatively higher level of nonwork-related ESM use than challenge-stressed employees to achieve optimal work engagement. Therefore, a sophisticated strategy regarding nonwork-related ESM use is needed.

Keywords

Enterprise Social Media
Challenge and Iindrance Stressors
Work Engagement
Work and Non-Work Enterprise Social Media
Sheikh Bahai Science and Technology Park
Isfahan
 
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Interdisciplinary Studies in Media and Culture
Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 30
Autumn and Winter 2025-2026
March 2026
Pages 115-155

  • Receive Date 20 May 2024
  • Revise Date 02 August 2025
  • Accept Date 17 August 2025
  • Publish Date 20 February 2026

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