Productivity Boost – Five-Wave Longitudinal Study on Social Media Invasion Before and During COVID-19

The balance between work and private life has become vague due to the use of social media and flexible working conditions. The study drew from technostress and wellbeing literature and examined the behavioral and psychological outcomes of professional social media invasion, the perception that work-related social media usage interferes with one’s private life. Nationally representative five-wave survey data of Finnish employees (n = 840) were analyzed with hybrid liner regression analysis. Results showed an increase of social media-enabled productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 – Spring 2021. Professional social media invasion was associated with both within-person and between person effects on social media-enabled productivity. Additionally, work engagement was associated with within-person and between person effects. Higher educated and individuals with open personality reported higher social media-enabled productivity. We challenge the dominant view that professional social media invasion is solely a negative factor. Instead, perceived social media-enabled productivity should be recognized in organizations.