JCMC 2012 - special Issue on Social Media and Communication in the Workplace

Journal of Computer Mediated Communication (JCMC) special Issue on
Social Media and Communication in the Workplace
Guest Editors:
Charles Steinfield, Michigan State University, steinfie-AT-msu.edu
Marleen Huysman, VU University Amsterdam, m.h.huysman-AT-vu.nl
Paul Leonardi, Northwestern University, leonardi-AT-northwestern.edu
Social media technologies have the potential to change important
communication processes within organizations.
As social media proliferate, it seems likely that organizational
members will use them to carry out socialization,
identification, collaboration, innovation, relationship development,
persuasion, learning, social capital formation,
and knowledge sharing processes. The explosive growth of these
technologies has not gone unnoticed bycommunication and information
scholars, as evidenced by the equally rapid growth in articles related
to the uses
and impacts of social media, including a prior special issue on social
network sites here in JCMC (vol. 13, no. 1,
2007). Much of this prior work has been conducted among student
populations or in the context of advertising andmarketing, and, as
such, has not focused on social media use in organizations. Studies
that do take theorganization into account, generally relate to such
fields as information systems marketing, and strategicmanagement, with
the aim of understanding how social media can be leveraged to enhance
business
performance. Less well studied, however, is the influence of social
media on a range of organizationalcommunication processes within
workplace contexts.
Focus of the Special Issue:
We invite submissions to a special issue of the Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication focusing onresearch on social media
within the organizational context. Our aim is to highlight research
that explores how the
affordances of social media interact with organizational contexts,
behaviors, and communicationpractices to influence processes of
interest to organizational scholars.
We are interested in submissions that enable us to better understand
how social media affordances make a
difference in workplace settings. Affordances are the result of the
intertwining of capabilities provided by thetechnologies and the
actions taken by the actors using them. Papers are especially welcome
that integrate thematerial aspects of the technology with its use in
organizational communication processes. Submissions that
focus on such topics as the role of social media in attracting
customers or influencing sales will be given lesspriority as these
topics are extensively covered in other outlets.
We are intentionally not providing a definition of social media in
this call for papers, but ask authors to do so withintheir
manuscripts. We encourage authors to be explicit about what it is
about the media they are studying that
makes them "social" and to provide definitions that are robust enough
to endure over time.
We encourage diverse methodological approaches, including both
qualitative and quantitative studies. Conceptualpapers as well as
empirical studies are welcome. All papers must be theoretically
motivated.
Submission Process and Author Guidelines:
Papers will undergo an initial screening by the three special issue
editors in an accelerated review process. A setof selected papers will
then be invited for submission to the JCMC system and will undergo a
formal review led bythe special issue editors in conjunction with JCMC
reviewers.
Submissions should follow JCMC formatting guidelines available at the
journal site
(http://www.wiley.com/bw/submit.asp?ref=1083-6101) and should be sent
via email to the special issue editors by
February 1, 2012. Initial screening decisions will be completed by
March 15, 2012, and selected papers must besubmitted to the JCMC
system at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcmc by April 15, 2012.
Final acceptance
decisions will be completed by July 15, 2012.
Marleen Huysman
Professor of Knowledge & Organization
Department of Economics and Business Administration
VU University Amsterdam
http://kinresearch.nl