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Employees' use of social media technologies: a methodological and thematic reviewWith the ubiquity of social media in all aspects of daily life, research interest in the topic has been on the rise. Within the existing body of research on these tools, part of the literature focuses on the use of social technologies by employees. This article employs a systematic literature review methodology, with the objective of identifying the main methodologies and themes of research on employees' usage of social technologies. A total of 66 articles were included in this review, covering five major research themes, that is, legal aspects and policies, human resources management, knowledge management and sharing, learning, and communication. In terms of methodological choices, research on the use of social technologies by employees is found to be fragmented and in need of further quantitative studies, mixed-methods approaches, and theory-based research. Suggestions for future research are provided based on both thematic and methodological considerations.

‘Social media’ has become a widely used term, and the subject of a growing body of academic research, but with little definitional consensus. The purpose of this article is to answer the question: what are social media? We examined existing scholarly definitions of the term ‘social media’ through a Lasswellian lens, by applying directed content analysis to a sample of 23 academic definitions retrieved from the top 179 cited papers on social media in the Web of Knowledge database. The present study makes two main contributions to the theorization of social media. First, we build on previous academic efforts to suggest an inclusive definition of social media based on Lasswell’s act of communication. Second, using the suggested definition, we categorize social media channels based on three dimensions, that is, user, content format and function. This taxonomy is illustrated by presenting a social media cube that aims to help practitioners, managers, researchers and developers to both classify existing social media platforms, and identify prospective ones.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how public cultural organizations use ambidextrous design to balance exploitation and exploration given their organizational structure that mainly stimulates exploitation. Design/methodology/approach The authors use an abductive methodology and, perform an in-depth comparative case study. The data sample consists of two Belgian public cultural centers located in the Flemish area. In all, 21 semi-structured interviews where analyzed using Nvivo. Findings Results show, first, that although both cases have the same formal organization chart, their informal structure differs. Second, both cases have a different point of view toward exploitation and exploration. Third, no “pure” ambidextrous designs were found. Finally, the paper formulates theoretical propositions for ambidexterity and public sector research. Research limitations/implications Limitations of this paper are threefold. First, the authors only compared two cases, so generalization of the findings is limited. Second, although the authors managed to make contributions to ambidexterity and public sector research, theory building is not finished. Finally, researchers have to improve empirical evidence focusing on which design elements lead toward ambidextrous public organizations. Originality/value This paper makes a threefold contribution to ambidexterity literature and public sector research. First, the focus on public sector organizations is a rarely taken approach in ambidexterity research. Second, the specific use of ambidextrous design attributes to the limited public sector research that has focused on ambidexterity. Third, the focus on small organizations with limited resources is a rarely taken focus in ambidexterity and public sector research.