Friendly skies and unfriendly workplace communication: Examining emotion displays on enterprise social media in the aviation industry

Researchers studying communication platforms in organizations (i.e., enterprise social media (ESM)) primarily focus on the implications of these technologies for knowledge sharing. In privileging task-based communication we risk overlooking the emotional aspects of communication inherent in worker interactions. This study investigates employees’ communication on ESM in two aviation companies. Interviews with employees (N = 39) revealed that they perceived ESM communication as mainly negative, focusing on venting and accusations, and that employees differed in their likelihood of expressing consonant or opposing emotions. Additionally, moderators’ presence on the ESM at one organization did not result in fewer emotional displays than on the unmoderated ESM. This research highlights the role of visibility in emotional workplace communication and in emotion cycles among organizational members.