Investigating employee harassment via social media

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of investigation of employee harassment via social media to develop best practices to help organisations conduct such investigations more effectively.

Design/methodology/approach

It reviews the technical, managerial and legal literature to develop guidance for organisations conducting investigations of employee harassment via social media.

Findings

Organisations may not have effective procedures for the investigation of social media misuse, in general, and employee harassment via social media, in particular. This paper provides guidance for organisations to conduct investigation of employee harassment via social media more effectively.

Originality/value

The paper consolidates the fragmented discussion of investigation of social media misuse with regard to employee harassment via a literature review across technical, managerial and legal disciplines. The paper provides guidance to support organisations for conducting investigations of employee harassment via social media more effectively.

Citation

Taylor, M., Haggerty, J., Gresty, D., Criado Pacheco, N., Berry, T. and Almond, P. (2015), "Investigating employee harassment via social media", Journal of Systems and Information Technology, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 322-335. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-03-2015-0022