Acceptance of LinkedIn for human resources management: a case study in the construction sector in Nigeria.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Many organisations have accepted social media as an important platform for keeping up with
global technological developmental trends. LinkedIn emerged as a social media platform that is
used by human resources (HR) professionals across the world. It is renowned for its ability to
facilitate communication between HR professionals. The main aim of the study is to understand
the perceptions of HR employees in the construction sector on the acceptance of LinkedIn software
in performing HR functions of the organisation in Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to
understand its acceptance based on the perceived usefulness, and ease-of-use as described by
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study also explored the challenges associated with
the acceptance of LinkedIn in performing HR functions in a construction company. An exploratory
research approach was adopted using the qualitative method to get in-depth knowledge of the
identified phenomenon. A case study approach was adopted for the study, and a construction
company in Lagos, Nigeria, was selected. Primary data was collected from HR officers. Semistructured
interviews were conducted by the researcher where ten (N=10) HR department officers
of the construction firm in Lagos Nigeria, were interviewed. The empirical results indicate that
LinkedIn is not widely accepted in facilitating HR functions in the HR department. The results
also show that the perceptions of the HR employees on the acceptance of LinkedIn are based on
how it assists them in performing HR functions. The results also indicated that the use of LinkedIn
is not only limited by security concerns, but by the lack of information, financial resources,
required skills, and management buy-in. Furthermore, the results also show that the acceptance
and use of LinkedIn for HR functions requires adequate buy-in from the executives of the
organisation. HR employees must also be appropriately trained on the use of LinkedIn to perform
HR functions and to mitigate LinkedIn security-related challenges.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.