Academic papers on work-related blogs seem few and far between and when I heard about a conference paper that explores the ethical dimension of employee blogs I felt less alone than I usually do. The emphasis of this paper, however, is on employee blogs and are different from work-related blogs in that they are mainly employees blogging from the inside of organizations and encouraged by management.
The paper attempts to answer the following questions:
1) Are employee blogs saying positive or negative things about the organizations their authors work for?
2) Is it ethical for employees to write and post on a web blog negative statements about the organizations they work for?
3) Is it ethical for representatives of organizations to monitor information their employees have written on weblogs?
4) Is it ethical for an organization to discipline an employee who writes negative statements about the organization on a weblog?
5) Is it ethical for an organization to conduct research or measurement studies that focus on information their employees are writing on weblogs?
Summarised findings suggest:
- Nearly half of the study’s respondents (49 per cent) think it’s ethical for employees to write negative things about the organizations they work for on a weblog.
- A large percentage (79 per cent) of the public relations practitioners who responded to this survey believe it is ethical for organizations to monitor information their employees have written on weblogs, and 59 per cent say it is ethical to discipline employees who write negative statements.
- A huge majority (89 per cent) said it was ethical for an organization to conduct research or measurement studies that focus on information their employees are blogging. Only four percent objected to research and measurement.
The paper attempts to answer the following questions:
1) Are employee blogs saying positive or negative things about the organizations their authors work for?
2) Is it ethical for employees to write and post on a web blog negative statements about the organizations they work for?
3) Is it ethical for representatives of organizations to monitor information their employees have written on weblogs?
4) Is it ethical for an organization to discipline an employee who writes negative statements about the organization on a weblog?
5) Is it ethical for an organization to conduct research or measurement studies that focus on information their employees are writing on weblogs?
Summarised findings suggest:
- Nearly half of the study’s respondents (49 per cent) think it’s ethical for employees to write negative things about the organizations they work for on a weblog.
- A large percentage (79 per cent) of the public relations practitioners who responded to this survey believe it is ethical for organizations to monitor information their employees have written on weblogs, and 59 per cent say it is ethical to discipline employees who write negative statements.
- A huge majority (89 per cent) said it was ethical for an organization to conduct research or measurement studies that focus on information their employees are blogging. Only four percent objected to research and measurement.
I get the impression the findings throw up far more questions than are answered and it seems to say more about contrasting and conflicting perspectives on business ethics rather than blog themselves. However, as very little academic work has been done on blogs then that's no bad thing. Finally, whilst it's interesting to know about varying perspectives on the ethics of blogging, I'd be more inclined to find out about how organizations are able to measure the effectiveness of employee blogs. It might be the case that unethical practices bring in more revenue!
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