ETHICS OF EMPLOYEES’ COMMUNICATION ON SOCIAL NETWORKS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE COMPANY'S IMAGE
Abstract
In modern life, an important factor in the positive company’s perception by the community is trust in it, which is formed largely on the basis of high ethical standards and corporate social responsibility of the company. The existence of value differences between employees and the company can lead to irreparable damage to the company's image due to unethical communication of employees on social networks. Therefore, the company's management should take forvarding action to create personnel policy, inform employees of the company's values and increase corporate loyalty. The purpose of this article is to theoretically substantiate and develop practical recommendations for the introduction of ethical support for employee communications through social networks to improve the company's image. The following scientific methods are used in the research: logical systematization and generalization, analysis and synthesis, graphic visualization. Based on the analysis of recent research in the field of company image formation, it was found that in the context of digitalization of public life the importance of factors influencing the formation of the company's image has significantly changed. These changes have led to a reduction of the importance of traditional factors such as the appearance of the company (interior design) and its employees (appearance, relationships inside the company and behavior) and increasing the influence of factors of Internet appearance of the company and its external online communications. Taking into account the need to improve the image of companies in an increasingly competitive environment, the feasibility of active use of social networks for external online communications has been proven. In order to ensure the effective use of social networks for external communications, it is necessary to introduce appropriate ethical support for such communications. Therefore, to improve the image of companies, it was proposed to develop and implement ethical rules of employees communication in social networks, as well as practical recommendations for the behavior of employees in social networks have been developed.
References
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Melewar, T. C., & Karaosmanoglu, E. (2006) Seven dimensions of corporate identity: A categorisation from the practitioners' perspectives. European Journal of Marketing, 40(7/8), 846–869.
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Stojanovic, I., Andreu, L., & Curras-Perez, R. (2018) Effects of the intensity of use of social media on brand equity. European journal of management and business economics, 27(1), 83–100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-11-2017-0049.
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