The document proposes a research topic examining how employers' monitoring of employees' social media can influence employee privacy and organizational work environment. It discusses gaps in the literature around how violations of employee privacy on social media negatively impact work environment. The purpose is to qualitatively examine this issue from employees' perspectives. Two research questions are proposed that ask how employer monitoring of social media violates employee privacy and harms organizational climate according to employees. The methodology will involve online surveys and interviews of 20-25 US-based employees.

1. Topic Proposal
The topic I have chosen for my research is how social media
influence employees' confidentiality and organizational work
environment. Employers' connection to their representative's
social media can influence the representative's confidentiality
and authoritative work environment. The problem addressed in
this research is the potential for an employer's access to and use
of their employees' personal social media posts to violate
employee privacy and vitiate an organization's work
environment (Thornthwaite, 2018). Social media could impact
an organization by lowering the organizational work
environment if employees feel their privacy has been violated
(McDonald & Thompson, 2016). There is a potential they may
be looked over when the time comes for a promotion, pay raise,
or a bonus. The literature's key gaps are it does not adequately
describe the process through which violation of employee
privacy on social media adversely affects the organizational
work environment. The other gap is that way the organizational
work environment is harmed is not fully explored and described.
The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the
effect social media has on employee privacy as it relates to
organizational climate, from the employee's perspective.
Kasemsap (2017) states a causal relationship between
organizational culture, organizational work environment,
knowledge management, and job performance related to a
business process orientation. The report found in this study is
that social media is relatively new, and there is a relatively
little study linking it to the invasion of employee privacy and
vitiation of organizational climate. According to Thornthwaite
(2018), social media has shifted the boundaries of employment
relationship towards greater employer control of employees'
private lives. Thornthwaite explains how social media's use
becomes more popular; the employee then greater control of

2. employees' private lives. My target sample size is between 20
to 25 people. I will try to research by using an online
questionnaire website (i.e., Qualtrics). Participants are located
throughout the United States. I will conduct Qualitative
research to explore the target audience's behavior and
perception. The purpose of this online questionnaire to collect
preliminary data to filter the target sample and then I will
conduct the interviews for qualitative data for the study.
Below are my research questions:
RQ1. How does employer monitoring of employee social- media
(i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) violate employee privacy,
from the employee’s perspective? RQ2. How does employer
monitoring of employee social- media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram) vitiate an organization’s climate, from the
employee’s perspective?
References
Kasemsap, K. (2017). Unifying a framework of organizational
culture, organizational climate, knowledge management, and job
performance. Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Methodologies,
Tools, and Applications, pp 270- 298. Retrieved from
doi:10.4018/978- 1-5225-1923-2.ch012
McDonald, P., & Thompson, P. (2016). Social media (in) and
the reshaping of public/private boundaries in employment
relations. International Journal of Management Reviews, 18(1)
pp 69-84. Retrieved from doi:10.1111/ijmr.12061
Thornthwaite, L. (2018). Social media and dismissal: Towards a
reasonable expectation of privacy?. Journal of Industrial
Relations, 60(1) pp 119-136. Retrieved from https://
doi.org/10.1177/0022185617723380
LIST OF TABLES.............. ix
LIST OF APPENDICES...... x

3. CHAPTER ONE: THE PROBLEM........................... 1
Problem Background............ 2
Problem Statement............... 4
Purpose of Study.................. 6
Theoretical Framework........ 6
Research Questions.............. 8
Definition of Terms.............. 8
Limitations and Delimitations............................................ 10
Limitations.................. 10

4. Delimitations.............. 11
Study Significance.............. 11
Overview............................ 12
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY............. 47
Research Questions............ 47
Research Design................. 48
Case Study Approach. 48

5. Selection of Participants..... 49
Instrumentation................... 50
Trustworthiness.......... 51
Procedure............................ 52
Analysis.............................. 53
Summary............................ 54