Unlocking Innovation through Social Media Usage: A Study in UAE

It has been suggested that the use of social media is advantageous for a firm, but few academic studies have examined this issue. The objective of our study is to investigate the impact of the use of social media on an employee’s creativity and propensity to innovate, in the context of a public-sector firm in the UAE. Specifically, we examine the impact of social media use on an employee’s creativity and propensity to innovate using the innovations that are internal to a firm: service, process, and organization. Surveys were used to collect data from the employees of the selected organization followed by a qualitative analysis to offer an interpretation of their perspectives. Findings from the study indicate that the use of social media positively impacts an employee’s creativity. Results also indicate that social media use positively influences an employee’s propensity for different types of innovation: service, process, and organization. In addition, the findings indicate that creativity mediates the relationship between social media usage and organizational innovation. Similarly, organizational innovation mediates the relationship between social media usage and service and process innovations. Accordingly, the study discusses the findings and recommends social media practices that may enable more employee creativity and innovation.