Social media in transparent work environments

Abstract

Social media is being integrated into work environments making them more transparent. When the work environment is transparent, it has the potential to allow projects to transmit information about work artifacts and events quickly through a large network. Using signaling theory, we propose a theory that users interpret this information and then make work-related decisions about attention and effort allocation in a principled manner. In the open source context of voluntary participation, broadcast activity information act as signals that allow developers to make highly informed choices about where to expend their attention and effort and with whom to collaborate. We propose four potential signals from literature and interviews with developers in our research setting and discuss the implications for social media in software development environments.