Claudia Dossena, Francesca Mochi, Rita Bissola and Barbara Imperatori
The research and practice agree that social media are reshaping strategy and organization rules across industries. Nevertheless, how social media can become a source of…
Abstract
Purpose
The research and practice agree that social media are reshaping strategy and organization rules across industries. Nevertheless, how social media can become a source of competitive advantage remains under-investigated and there is no evidence about which capabilities and competencies can effectively and strategically exploit social media. By merging the literature on social media management and hospitality, the authors develop and test a theoretical framework that identifies the most relevant capabilities and competencies for using social media in the food service sector. The paper aims to map them and understand which ones are relevant according to different strategic choices of social media use.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews to managers or owners of 14 restaurants in a big city in Northern Italy.
Findings
The theoretical framework suggests that social media could be strategically used for different aims by relying on specific capabilities and competencies. The authors tested it and found that, though nowadays restaurant managers mainly focus on a narrow set of social media competencies linked to relational and marketing capabilities, some also rely on social media to promote organizational change and innovation.
Originality/value
The authors propose a theoretical framework and preliminary evidence on capabilities and competencies declined for the food service sector. The model considers different uses of social media and related capabilities and competencies by mapping them accordingly to their strategic use. The authors preliminarily validate our framework and highlight the competencies possessed by the restaurant managers of our sample and their alignment with the strategic use of social media.
Details
Keywords
Claudia Dossena, Lorenzo Mizzau and Francesca Mochi
Although the importance of social media in the HRM literature is well established, little is known about their potential role in bringing the “human component” at the center of…
Abstract
Although the importance of social media in the HRM literature is well established, little is known about their potential role in bringing the “human component” at the center of the organization. The purpose of this chapter is to conceptually investigate if and how the use of social media in HRM can support (or counteract) a more humanistic approach within organizations. To this aim, we looked into how the e-HRM literature on social media could match the principles posed by the Humanistic Management literature. After having delineated Humanistic Management principles, we frame our analysis focusing on four main topics related to HRM: organizational culture, leadership, job design, and HR practices (i.e., recruitment and selection, learning and training, and performance appraisal and compensation). We develop research propositions connecting humanistic principles with these organizational and HR areas, and conclude with research and managerial implications.