Benefits and pitfalls of a CEO’s personal Twitter messaging
ISSN: 1087-8572
Article publication date: 30 December 2019
Issue publication date: 20 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the benefits and pitfalls of a CEO’s personal messaging on Twitter.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on recent professional and scholarly literature that has explored Twitter use by executives. For empirical support, some personal tweets of Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk are cited.
Findings
Twitter enables the exercise of leadership through language, especially by CEOs who learn how to harness its benefits and avoid its pitfalls. Communicating via a CEO’s personal Twitter account can help establish the actual and perceived organizational culture of a company; build and maintain the CEO’s reputation as an honest broker of information; and influence how a company’s business model and priorities are perceived.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first to explore the implications of the use by CEO’s of their personal Twitter account for corporate purposes.
Citation
Craig, R. and Amernic, J. (2020), "Benefits and pitfalls of a CEO’s personal Twitter messaging", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 43-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-10-2019-0154
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited