Effects of the implementation of a corporate social network on collaborative work: the study case of Cofidis

Details

Supervisors

De Cock, Sylvie

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en communication multilingue, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

The advent of digital technology within companies has naturally changed the way we work fundamentally. As a result, many companies, following the success of traditional social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), have decided to copy their principles and use them internally, and have thus created what are commonly called corporate social networks. Their functionalities potentially have many advantages such as improving internal communication, knowledge transfer, remote working. According to the literature, social networks also promote collaboration and innovation within teams of employees. We have thus shown that corporate social networks have all the potential characteristics to foster team collaboration. We have also highlighted the behavioural, organizational, managerial and technological obstacles to their use. At present, several generations of employees are working side by side in the labour market, especially since the retirement age has been raised. We, therefore, started by the conviction that different behaviours should be observed in the use of a corporate social network. Given that people from generation Y have been immersed in digital tools since birth, we assumed that this generation would make the most use of them and therefore derive the most benefit from them at work. Beyond this generational hypothesis, we also wanted to verify whether the corporate social network really does add value to collaborative work and stimulate innovation. In order to test this, we decided to make a study with Cofidis Belgium. From the analysis of the answers, it became quite clear that, in general, Workplace (the corporate social network used at Cofidis) is a tool that has been correctly implemented and whose use is favoured within Cofidis. In terms of facilitating collaboration, we noticed a significant difference between generations X and Y. However, contrary to our initial hypothesis, it is generation X that seems to make the best use of it for collaborative purposes. Although generation Y has been "immersed" in social networks from an early age, it is not for this reason that they exploit all their potential at work at Cofidis, unlike generation X, which has had to make more effort to master digital tools. Finally, with regards to the stimulation of innovation, we did not observe any significant difference between the two generations. Nevertheless, the analysis of the open questions shows that it is once again generation X that makes the most use of the corporate social network for this purpose.