Just Write the Review: Identity Performance, Context Collapse, and Work at Cyper Technologies

Sample

This case study illustrates how online self-presentation in collapsed contexts can quickly blur personal and work boundaries. Specifically, we use Goff man’s (1959) dramaturgical perspective, context collapse (Marwick & boyd, 2011), and organizational principles to explore when and why an individual might share about her workplace online. The main character, Alex, enjoys her job working as a software engineer at a high-pressure technology fi rm, Cyper Technologies. Alex’s work team is great, but they don’t share much about home lives. Alex is a hardworking and a private person; however, the boundaries of work and life begin to break down when Alex’s boss, Jamie, asks her to write a positive online review of the fi rm to combat some bad press. Though Jamie and Alex get along, this doesn’t feel right. Alex doesn’t feel comfortable publicly commenting on the firm. Honestly, there are some issues, and this review will live on indefinitely. Through conversations with other coworkers, Alex begins to understand that some of the recent denials of time-off requests have corresponded closely with this push for positive, online reviews. Alex is faced with a predicament: refuse to complete the online review and jeopardize Jamie’s goodwill or complete a disingenuous online review, forfeit privacy, and feel unethical. This case illustrates how personal and organizational contexts collide in online environments and challenges the reader to consider how organizational constructs (identification, commitment, and satisfaction) might manifest online.