Examining Contributions to a Corporate Microblog as a Basis for an Employee Incentive System

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Thesis
• Document Structure
• Social Software and Enterprise 2.0
• The Web 2.0
• Social Software
• Enterprise 2.0
• Microblogs and Microblogging
• Corporate Uses for Microblogging
• Adoption and Change
• Change Management and Incentives
• Globalization
• Organizational Change Management (according to John P. Kotter)
• Management By Objectives (according to Peter F. Drucker)
• Balanced Scorecard (according to Kaplan and Norton)
• Technology Acceptance Models
• Strategic Alignment and Incentive Systems
• Conventional Media and Media Reception
• Print Media
• Broadcast Media
• The Internet and Website Analytics
• Consumer Feedback and Customer Reviews
• User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism and Prosumers
• Impact
• Social Software Analysis and Information Diffusion
• Klout
• Socialmention
• Facebook Insights
• Practical Relevance of Klout and Facebook Insights
• Information Diffusion
• The Data Set
• Notices
• Subscription and the Timeline
• Favorites
• Repeats
• Replies
• Hashtags
• Group Memberships
• Examples
• Interpretations
• Analysis, Measurements and Scoring
• Desired Behaviors
• The “#platformwin” Hashtag
• Observations
• Sample Group Selection
• Influence Metric (INF)
• Utiliy Metric (UTI)
• Composite Incentive Score (CIS)
• Examples
• Scoring Results
• Examination of Correlations
• Summary
• Research Methods
• Summarization of Findings
• Critique
• Topics for Further Research

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This research paper examines the potential of microblogging for employee incentives and corporate change management. Specifically, the study aims to find out whether and how employee contributions to a corporate microblog can be analyzed to produce a metric that can then be used as input in an incentive system to promote employee engagement and technology adoption. The work is guided by the following key themes:

• The impact of Web 2.0 and social software on corporate strategy and organizational change.
• The application of traditional media analytics to social software, particularly microblogging.
• The importance of employee motivation and incentive systems for the success of any corporate change initiative.
• The potential of social media analytics to measure and quantify employee behavior for corporate benefits.
• The concept of information diffusion in a social network and its role in identifying influential contributors.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The first chapter introduces the idea of using microblogging to promote employee engagement in corporate technology adoption. It argues that the success of social software is dependent on both the quantity and quality of employee contributions. The thesis at the heart of the study states that analyzing data from a corporate microblog can provide valuable insights into employee behavior and can form the basis of an employee incentive system. Chapter two provides an overview of the concepts of Web 2.0, social software, and Enterprise 2.0. Microblogging is presented as a specific breed of social software, and its features and potential for business use are explored in detail. Chapter three examines theoretical foundations for corporate change management and employee incentive systems. It reviews key theories by John P. Kotter, Peter F. Drucker, Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton, and Fred D. Davis. The chapter argues that the success of corporate change initiatives depends on the alignment of individual employee behavior with corporate strategic objectives. Chapter four presents a short excursus examining traditional media and media reception. It highlights the methods and metrics used to measure the success of print media, broadcast media, and Internet content. The chapter then explores the rise of user-generated content, citizen journalism, and the concept of “prosumers” in a Web 2.0 environment. Chapter five provides practical examples for the analysis of social software platforms, particularly Klout, Socialmention, and Facebook Insights. It examines how these services analyze user contributions to provide insights into user influence and the effectiveness of information diffusion in a network. Chapter six examines the data set derived from a corporate microblogging platform used by employees at a multinational investment bank. The chapter introduces the concept of “notices” and analyzes the platform’s features, including subscription, favorites, repeats, replies, hashtags, and group memberships, to understand how users have engaged with the platform. Chapter seven details the analysis and scoring of the data set to determine the utility and influence of employee contributions. It defines specific metrics for both utility and influence and combines them into a composite incentive score (CIS). The chapter presents the results of scoring a sample group of twelve users and examines correlations between the CIS and other data parameters, such as the number of subscribers and notices posted. Chapter eight summarizes the research methodology and findings. It concludes that the thesis has been successfully verified and that the stream of notices in a corporate microblog provides valuable data to measure employee behavior and design incentive systems. The chapter concludes with a critique of the research method and a discussion of further research topics.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This research paper focuses on employee contributions to a corporate microblogging platform. The main keywords are:

• Social software
• Microblogging
• Enterprise 2.0
• Employee incentive systems
• Organizational change management
• Information diffusion
• Social media analytics