Between Discursive Power, Visibility and Resistance: A Critical Study of Employee Ambassadorship on Social Media

Abstract: Social media offers employees new opportunities to contribute as communicators and ambassadors to the strategic communication of organizations. However, this study problematizes the prevailing normative and managerial-dominated understanding of self-initiated employee ambassadorship on social media, which neglects power structures in which employees’ communication on social media is embedded. Thus, this thesis aims to provide a deeper understanding and a more critical perspective on the dark side of self-initiated employee ambassadorship on social media. This qualitative study used empirical material from semi-structured interviews with employees from 14 organizations and Foucault’s concept of power to analyze which and how discourses exert power over employee communication on social media, how visibility influences it, and which aspects fuel resistance. Contrary to previous research, the findings indicate that employee ambassadors’ social media communication is hardly influenced by direct managerial control but by three guiding discourses that create complex tensions, where employees must constantly negotiate between normalized professional expectations, self-branding requirements and an authenticity paradox. These tensions intensify through visibility on social media, where employees strategize and situationally silence their communication through self-monitoring and self-surveillance practices. However, since there is no power without resistance, the results also show that employees’ resistance towards the phenomenon is based on privacy, the image of social media platforms, and organizational culture. Conclusively, the findings also outline the need for further critical research to offer a more nuanced understanding of power relations that influence the communication practices of organizational members.