“It leaves a bitter aftertaste”: uncovering the tensions of employees’ communication engagement and impression vulnerability on social media

Purpose This article problematizes the dominant functionalistic and organization-centric view of employees’ communication engagement on social media and challenges the assumption that such engagement merely reflects managerial success or failure. Adopting an employee-centered, relational approach, the study advances the understanding of employees’ communication engagement by foregrounding the tensions between competing meanings and discursive logics that shape communication (dis)engagement beyond the traditional employee–organization relationship. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a qualitative case study approach within a talent management program at a Swiss corporation, the empirical material was collected through 20 semi-structured interviews, supported by photo-elicitation and descriptive observations of participants’ LinkedIn profiles. Findings The study indicates that employees’ communication (dis)engagement on social media is embedded within three dialectical tensions rooted in their relationships with their organization, a broader professional network and the platform itself. The tensions arose from competing meanings around visibility, representation and boundaries. These tensions then fostered impression vulnerabilities – unresolvable dilemmas around employees’ impression management online – that often lead to disengagement. Research limitations/implications The findings underscore the need for a relational understanding of employees’ communication (dis)engagement in the digital sphere that moves beyond managerial success or failure and foregrounds the communicative dynamics and relations shaping communication (dis)engagement. Practical implications The study highlights the importance of organizational sensitivity to relational dynamics and the discursive struggles employees encounter when engaging on social media. Originality/value This study contributes to a critical, relational perspective on employees’ social media communication engagement, offering insights into the dialectical tensions that underpin their communication decisions.