Building career adaptability through enterprise social media use

Purpose In the digital workplace, enterprise social media (ESM) are widely used for work and social purposes, which may afford employees resources to build their career adaptability. However, limited theoretical evidence is about how to build career adaptability through different ESM uses (work-oriented ESM use and socialization-oriented ESM use). This study thus aims to enrich the theoretical understanding of the relationship between different ESM uses and career adaptability by examining the different mediating mechanisms of role clarity and psychological closeness and the moderating effect of mindfulness based on affordance theory. Design/methodology/approach SPSS PROCESS and AMOS were used to analyze the data collected from 209 full-time employees at three-time points. Findings Our results showed that work-oriented ESM use exerts a positive effect on employees’ career adaptability via role clarity, while socialization-oriented ESM use has a positive effect on employees’ career adaptability via psychological closeness. Mindfulness strengthens the positive effect of work-oriented ESM use on career adaptability via role clarity. Practical implications Managers need to notice that both work-oriented and socialization-oriented ESM use can benefit employees, but there are different effecting mechanisms of ESM use for work and social purposes, and organizations should keep cultivating the mindfulness of employees. Originality/value This study contributes to the ESM literature by investigating two different influencing mechanisms of ESM uses on employees’ career adaptability and the moderating effects of mindfulness.