Integrating Digital Nomads in Corporate Structures: Managerial Contemplations

The digitization of the world of work affects individuals and organizations alike. Across industries, technological and structural progress offers new potential for individuals to re-organize their work independently of time and place. In this context, the popularized catchphrase of ‘digital nomadism’ has become an absorbing blueprint for research on the future of work. However, at this point we do not know how organizations can best react to this emerging shift of employee preferences. In this study, we identify hitherto unknown managerial, organizational, and technological implications of integrating digital nomads into corporate structures. The results of expert interviews with executives from various industries shed light on barriers and motivators for corporations to recruit, lead, and retain digital nomads as part of their workforce. Ultimately, we found managers to wrestle with paradoxical attitudes towards digital nomad integration by clearly advocating the flexibilization of working models but resisting cultural change

Decentralised Social Media: Scoping Review and Future Research Directions

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter/X, or TikTok are controlled by and rely on a single service provider. However, repeated controversies around data breaches, algorithmic bias, or misinformation have eroded trust in these centralised platforms. Concurrently, advancements in blockchain technology have opened avenues for decentralised social media that distribute control and data across a network of participants, thereby challenging their centralised counterparts. This study reviews existing literature on the topic and finds that what we know largely focuses on the technological implementation of decentralised social media. Therefore, we surveyed the literature for socio-technical dimensions of the phenomenon and found that control, privacy, operation, security, rewards, adoption, and research are central themes in this regard. We use those themes to derive recommendations for future research in Information Systems (IS) and beyond that aims to unpack individual, organisational, and societal implications of decentralised social media

‘Just a Normal Day in the Metaverse’ – Distraction Conflicts of Knowledge Work in Virtual Environments

The changing nature of knowledge work creates demands for emerging technologies as enablers for workplace innovation. One emerging technology to potentially remedy some drawbacks of remote work arrangements are meta-verses that merge physical reality with digital virtuality. In the literature, such innovations in the knowledge work sector have been primarily examined against the backdrop of collaboration as a dependent variable. In this paper, however, we investigate knowledge work in meta-verses from a distraction-conflict perspective because independent, uninterrupted activities are as much characteristic of knowledge work as collaboration. Preliminary findings show that knowledge workers in meta-verses experience arousal from the 1) presence, appearance, and behaviour of other avatars, 2) realism, novelty, and affordances of the virtual environment, and 3) technological friction and navigation. This work has the theoretical implication that distraction-conflict theory must be extended to incorporate additional sources of arousal when applied to the context of knowledge work in meta-verses

Understanding Digital Nomadism as an Employer Branding Signal

The advancement of digital technologies and the wider acceptance of remote work have led to heightened expectations among knowledge workers. Nowadays, many individuals make career decisions based on the level of flexibility that is offered by employers. This paper explores to what extent the label of ‘digital nomadism’ is used and perceived as an employer branding signal in the context of corporate work. Preliminary findings from qualitative interviews with corporate employees that engage in nomadic work suggest that promoting digital nomadism as an employer is perceived as an attractive signal. However, the data also shows that employers are reluctant to send this signal to potential employees but rather use it internally to retain talent within the organization. The paper proposes a framework that informs signaling theory and puts forth a notion of digital nomadism as an employer branding signal for talent attraction and retention in organizations

Sense-Giving Strategies of Media Organisations in Social Media Disaster Communication: Findings from Hurricane Harvey

Media organisations are essential communication stakeholders in social media disaster communication during extreme events. They perform gatekeeper and amplification roles which are crucial for collective sense-making processes. In that capacity, media organisations distribute information through social media, use it as a source of information, and share such information across different channels. Yet, little is known about the role of media organisations on social media as supposed sense-givers to effectively support the creation of mutual sense. This study investigates the communication strategies of media organisations in extreme events. To that matter, a Twitter dataset consisting of 9,414,463 postings was collected during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We employed social network analysis and content analysis methods to identify media communication approaches. Three different sense-giving strategies were identified: retweeting local in-house outlets; bound amplification of messages of individual associated journalists; and open message amplification

‘Show Me Your People Skills’ - Employing CEO Branding for Corporate Reputation Management in Social Media

Digitization has led to increased social media utilization among companies to connect with their customers. We know that particularly CEOs, as the representing face of a company, can exert great influence to build corporate reputation. While reputation management in general has been researched extensively, we know little about the dimensions of CEO reputation management in social media. This paper deals with the distinction of organizational and personal branding in Twitter, and moreover, aims to determine eligible dimensions for CEO reputation management, based on the widely accepted Reputation Quotient. Therefore, we collected 3,604 social media postings of companies and their respective CEOs from Twitter. Through statistical and content analyses, we determined two supplementary dimensions for CEO reputation. Shared Interests and Personal Logging add private aspects to the spectrum of CEO reputation management, which have the capacity to foster consumer engagement

Digital Nudge Stacking and Backfiring: Understanding Sustainable E-Commerce Purchase Decisions

Background: The consumption of ‘fast fashion’, which is expedited by cost-effective e-commerce systems, represents one of the major factors contributing to the acceleration of climate change. An emerging approach to steer consumers in the direction of more sustainable purchase decisions is digital nudging. This paper explores digital nudging in the context of green fashion e-commerce by testing the effectiveness of two nudging strategies on the decision to choose green fashion products (GFP) over regular fashion items. Method: This study was conducted as a between-subject online experiment (n=320) with four conditions simulating an e-commerce scenario. The participants were presented with different products: one was ecologically friendly, and another was the regular option. Depending on their randomized group allocation, the participants experienced a default nudge, a social norm nudge, a combination of both strategies, or no nudge. In addition, we conducted 10 qualitative interviews to gain a deeper understanding of consumers’ decision process. Results: Our experiment failed to demonstrate statistically significant relationships between the various nudging strategies and GFP purchase decisions. However, additional explorative analyzes confirmed a backfire effect for the combination of nudging strategies. This reveals the previously overlooked influence of participants’ identification on the effectiveness of digital nudging strategies. In addition, qualitative interviews revealed individual factors that influence sustainable e-commerce purchase decisions. Conclusion: This study contributes to information systems research by explaining the differences in the effectiveness of different nudging strategies regarding high-involvement compared to low-involvement products. Moreover, it provides empirical evidence of a backfire effect resulting from a combination of digital nudging strategies (i.e., digital nudge stacking). Finally, the study underscores the leverage that individual factors have on both GFP purchase decision and the effectiveness of nudges

You are now an Influencer! Measuring CEO Reputation in Social Media

We know that reputation in organisational contexts can be understood as a valuable asset that requires diligent management. It directly affects how a firm is publicly perceived, and indirectly, how a firm will perform economically. The establishment of social media as ubiquitous tools of communication have changed how corporations manage their reputation. Particularly CEOs face novel responsibilities, as they deal with their personal image, which at the same time affects the reputation of their firm. Whereas CEO and corporate reputation have been researched isolated from each other, little is known about how a CEO’s social media reputation management affects corporate reputation. This research in progress paper aims to emphasise this research gap with a literature review on the current status of reputation management and measurement by means of social media. We further propose a research design that combines sentiment analysis, frequency detection, and content analysis and discuss further research prospects