The effects of social media on organizational behaviours in non-democratic countries by Ali Fathi Makvand ADVERTIMENT La consulta d’aquesta tesi queda condicionada a l’acceptació de les següents condicions d'ús: La difusió d’aquesta tesi per mitjà del repositori institucional UPCommons (http://upcommons.upc.edu/tesis) i el repositori cooperatiu TDX (http://www.tdx.cat/) ha estat autoritzada pels titulars dels drets de propietat intel·lectual únicament per a usos privats emmarcats en activitats d’investigació i docència. No s’autoritza la seva reproducció amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva difusió i posada a disposició des d’un lloc aliè al servei UPCommons o TDX. No s’autoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a UPCommons (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant al resum de presentació de la tesi com als seus continguts. En la utilització o cita de parts de la tesi és obligat indicar el nom de la persona autora. 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WARNING On having consulted this thesis you’re accepting the following use conditions: Spreading this thesis by the institutional repository UPCommons (http://upcommons.upc.edu/tesis) and the cooperative repository TDX (http://www.tdx.cat/?locale- attribute=en) has been authorized by the titular of the intellectual property rights only for private uses placed in investigation and teaching activities. Reproduction with lucrative aims is not authorized neither its spreading nor availability from a site foreign to the UPCommons service. Introducing its content in a window or frame foreign to the UPCommons service is not authorized (framing). These rights affect to the presentation summary of the thesis as well as to its contents. In the using or citation of parts of the thesis it’s obliged to indicate the name of the author. The Effects of Social Media on Organizational Behaviours in Non-Democratic Countries PhD Thesis By ALI FATHI MAKVAND Ph.D. Advisor PROF. VICENC FERNANDEZ Department of Management UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE CATALUNYA - BARCELONATECH PhD Thesis submitted to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech in accordance with the require- mentsofthePh.D.programin BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT intheDepartmentofManagement. ACADEMIC YEAR: 2017-2018 ABSTRACT Context:Cultureisasetofvalues,opinionsandbeliefswhichshapepeoplelives,societies, nationsandorganizations.However,organizationalcultureisthemostessentialcontextatthe heart of the organizational development career but national culture has an effective impact ontheorganizationalmembersbehavioursandattitudes.Theappearanceofsocialmediaand its popularity among people have created different variables in the way that organizational memberscommunicate,whichimpactonthestabilityoforganizationaldevelopment.Buthow organizational behaviours turn into challenges when social media as a new communication technologyisintroducedtothecompanieswherethenationalcultureoftheircountrieshasnot embeddeddemocracyprinciples? Objectives:Thisresearchproposedtodeterminehowtheuseofsocialmediaimpactsnega- tivelyandpositively,onorganizationalbehaviorsinsideoforganizationsholdinnon-democratic countriesintermsofleadership,collaboration,communication,interactionbetweenseniorsand subordinates. Method:Theempiricalresearchinthisresearchconsistsoftwoqualitativeproposalsbased methodsbyapplyingsemi-structuredinterviewswith18differentlevelmanagers(Middleand Senior,CEO)fromdifferentlargeandmediumcompaniesinIran.HofstedeCulturalDimensions arethemainculturalanalysisframeworkwhichhavebeenappliedtothedataanalysiscollected frominterviews. Results:Aframeworkforconceptualizingorganizationalbehavioursinchallengingwithnew communicationtechnologyinnon-democraticculturalcontextwhichresultsacategorizationof organizationalbehavioursspecificationvariablesandasetofpropositionsabouttheircauses. Conclusions/Implications:Theinfluence,importanceandimplicationofboththenational cultureandorganizationalcultureonchallengingwithsocialmedianetworkshavebeenfocused andasetofnewdiscussionshavebeendevelopedforthefuturestudies.Moreover,thedetailed concentrationofthisresearchontherelationbetweensocialmediaeffectsandnon-democratic culturecontexthavebroughtmanynewviewsforthefutureresearcherstohavedeeperunder- standingabouttheoutcomesofnewcommunicationtechnologyonorganizationalbehavioursin developingnationswherethedemocracyprinciplesarenotapartofnationalculture. i DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wouldliketopurely,sincerelyandgratefullythankProfessor.Dr.VicencFernandezforhis brilliantadvicesandsupportiveguidancesandmostimportantlyitspatienceindirecting and managing me as a doctoral student during my studies at Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya,BarcelonaTech.Hisprinciplesinmentoringprovidedmeagreatroundedresearch experiences which made me more consistent in carrying my long-term life goals. His way of directingwasparamountinleadingmetonotonlyprogressasanexperientialistbutalsoasan independenteducatorandanalyticalthinker.Iamsurethatheprovidesthisopportunityforall hisstudentstoestablishtheirownideasanddeveloptheirself-efficiencyandworkindependently andsimultaneouslyhemonitoringyourdevelopmentcarefully.Foreverythingyouhavedonefor me,Professor.Dr.VicencFernandez,Ithankyouforever. IwouldalsoliketothankAmaiaLusaGarciacoordinatorofdoctoralprograminbusiness administrationandmanagementandallofthemembersofthedoctoraladministrationoffice,es- peciallyNuriaGongoraandLuisaVicenteforgivingmetheopportunitytoworkinacomfortable officeandforprovidingrequiredstuffsduringmydoctoralstudy. Iwouldalsoliketothankallintervieweesmanagersfortheirparticipationandkindcooper- ationingettingmyresearchcareergoessignificantlyontherightwayandfortheirtrustand generosityinprovidingbrilliantinformationwhichopenednewareaformyresearchcareer. IwouldliketothanktheDepartmentofManagementatUniversitatPolitecnicadeCatalunya, BarcelonaTech,especiallythosestaffofmydoctoralcommitteefortheirhelp,accessibilityand valuablecollaboration. Finally,Iwouldliketothankmyfamilyfortheirpatience,ongoingsupport,continuousencour- agementandtheirpurelovewhichbuiltmetopassfromalldifficultiesandgoingforwardwith morehopes.Ithankmyparents,fortheirfaithandgenerositywhichallowmetobeasambitious asIwanted.Igainedsomuchenergytotacklechallengesanddifficultiesheadonbecauseoftheir purekinds.Also,Ithankmysistersinprovidingmeusefulsupportandunendingencouragement. iii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I declare that the work in this PhD thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech and the requirements of the Ph.D. program in Business Administration and ManagementintheDepartmentofManagement.Exceptwhereindicatedbyspecific referenceinthetext,theworkisthecandidate’sownwork.Workdoneincollaboration with,orwiththeassistanceof,others,isindicatedassuch.Anyviewsexpressedin thedissertationarethoseoftheauthor. Ali Fathi Makvand 22nd of December 2017 SIGNED:....................................................DATE:.......................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ListofTables xi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 SocialMediaintheSocietyandOrganizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 ResearchStructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 Literaturereview 7 2.1 SocialMedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.2 SocialMediaandOrganizationalChange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.3 ImpactofSocialMediaonOrganizationBehaviorandCulture . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4 The Role and Impacts of Social Media in the Transition to Democracy in Non- TraditionalDemocraticCountries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3 HowDoesSocialMediaAffectTheBehavioursofManagersandEmployeesin Non-DemocraticCountries? 13 3.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.3 LiteratureReview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.4 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.5 ResultsandDiscussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.5.1 Leadership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.5.2 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.5.3 Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4 How Social Media Usage Creates New Behaviors Between Employees and ManagersInsideofIranianOrganizationsbyNarcissism? 37 4.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 4.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS 4.3 TheoreticalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 4.4 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.5 ResultsandDiscussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 4.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 5 FinalConclusions 57 5.1 FutureStudiesandImplications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 5.2 SkillsandSelf-Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 A AppendixA 67 A.1 InterviewProtocolofFirstStudy:HowDoesSocialMediaAffectTheBehaviours ofManagersandEmployeesinNon-DemocraticCountries? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 A.2 Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 A.3 TypologyofInterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 A.4 Finalvalidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 A.5 Datarecording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 A.6 Placeanddateofinterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 A.7 InterviewChecklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 A.8 InterviewInstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 A.9 InterviewQuestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 A.9.1 SectionA:SocialMediaandLeadershipStyleChanging . . . . . . . . . . . 70 A.9.2 SectionB:SocialMediaandOrganizationalChange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 A.9.3 SectionC:SocialMediaandCommunicationChange . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 A.9.4 SectionD:SocialMediaandOrganizationalBehaviorChanging . . . . . . 73 A.10 KeywordsandDefinitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 B AppendixB 77 B.1 Interview Protocol of Second Study: How Social Media Usage Creates New Be- haviors Between Employees and Managers Inside of Iranian Organizations by Narcissism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 B.2 Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 B.3 TypologyofInterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 B.4 Finalvalidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 B.5 Datarecording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 B.6 Placeanddateofinterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 B.7 InterviewChecklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 B.8 InterviewInstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 B.9 InterviewQuestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 B.9.1 SectionA:SocialMediaandSocio-CulturalChanging . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS B.9.2 SectionB:SocialMediaandReligious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 B.9.3 SectionC:SocialMediaandNarcissism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 B.9.4 SectionD:SocialMediaandSelfie-sism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 B.10 KeywordsandDefinitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 ix