ABOUT
Ward van Zoonen is associate professor Organizational Dynamics in the Digital Society at Erasmus University. Ward is also affiliated with the University of Jyväskylä (JYU) as visiting professor in the department of language and communication. He obtained his Ph.D. in Communication Science at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research at the University of Amsterdam. Prior to this Ph.D., he completed a research master in communication science (MSc), a BS in Communication Science, and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in marketing.
Broadly, his academic research focuses on the relationship between technology and organizational behavior. Specifically, his work explores how technological advancements shape and change the nature of work. This relates to how the implementation of technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, affects the nature of work and employees’ work experiences. Ward is interested in questions related to how workers connect, communicate and coordinate their work through different technologies and the role of organizations in that process.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
- The changing nature of work – Few people would deny that the nature of employment and work has changed over the past decades and is likely to continue to change. Moving further into the 21st century smart technologies, artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and algorithms, – which we label ubiquitous-computing innovations – will increasingly crowd the workplace. Although, no one can predict with certainty the trajectory of these ubiquitous-computing innovations, general predictions herald sizable changes in knowledge acquisition, sharing and distributing, as well as massive ripple effects in the workplace. Regardless of its pacing, ubiquitous-computing innovations are changing the manner in which businesses create and capture value, how and where we work, and how and with whom or what we interact and communicate. Their rapid development portends potentially radical changes in the status quo, disrupting careers, identities, and work life. Which prompt the question, how do these technological advancements change the nature of work.
- The Digital workplace – Information and communication technologies have a great impact on when, where, and how work conducted. In a series of research projects this work untangles the intended and unintended uses and consequences of organizational and personal ICTs in the workplace. Specifically, this work investigates how individuals in the workplace manage challenges associated with the implementation, adoption and use of ICTs. Additionally, I am interested in understanding the role of these technologies in shaping communication and behavioral visibility as well as how employees shift between various states of connectivity as they work across temporal and spatial boundaries.
PAPERS
- Pekkala, K., & van Zoonen, W. (2021). Work-related social media use: The mediating role of social media communication self-efficacy. European Management Journal. (ahead-of-Print).
- van Zoonen, W., Sivunen, A., & Treem, J.W. (2021). Technology Assisted Supplemental Work: A Multilevel Analysis of Perpetual Work Practices. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2538
- van Zoonen, W. & ter Hoeven, C. L. (2021). Disruptions and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparing Stressors for Employees conducting essential and nonessential work. Journal of Business and Psychology. Doi: 10.1007/s10869-021-09744-5.
- van Zoonen, W., Sivunen, A., Blomqvist, K., Olsson, T., Ropponen, A., Henttonen, K., & Vartiainen, M. (2021). Factors influencing adjustment to remote work: Employees’ initial responses to the covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(13), 6966.
- van Zoonen, W., Sivunen, A., & Rice, R. E. (2020). Boundary communication: how smartphone use after hours is associated with work-life conflict and organizational identification. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 1-21.
- Ter Hoeven, C. L., & Van Zoonen, W. (2020). Helping others and feeling engaged in the context of workplace flexibility: The importance of communication control. International journal of business communication, 1-22. Doi; 10.1177/2329488419898799.
- Büchler, N., ter Hoeven, C. L., & van Zoonen, W. (2020). Understanding constant connectivity to work: How and for whom is constant connectivity related to employee well-being?. Information and Organization, 30(3), 1-20 Doi: 10.1016/j.infoandorg.2020.100302.
- van Zoonen, W., & Sivunen, A. (2020). Knowledge Brokering in an Era of Communication Visibility. International Journal of Business Communication, 1-18. Doi: 10.1177/2329488420937348.
- Schafraad, P. & Van Zoonen, W. (2019). How news values in corporate press release influence journalistic capital investment. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research. (ahead-of-print)
- Araujo, T., van Zoonen, W., & ter Hoeven, C. L., (2019). Automated one-2-one communication: the uses and adoption of conversational agents (Chatbots) in and by organizations (SWOCC; Vol. 73). Amsterdam: Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Commerciële Communicatie.
- Van Zoonen, W. & Treem, J.W. (2019). The Role of Organizational Idenitification and the Desire to Succeed in Employees’ Use of Personal Twitter Accounts for Work Computers in Human Behavior. Doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.06.008
- Rice, R. E., Heinz, M., & van Zoonen, W. (2019). A Public Goods Model of Outcomes from Online Knowledge Sharing Mediated by Mental Model Processing, Journal of Knowledge Management. 23(1), 1-22. Doi: 10.1108/JKM-06-2018-0360
- Van Zoonen, W. & Banghart, S. G. (2018). Talking engagement into being: A three-wave panel study linking boundary management preferences, work communication on social media, and employee engagement Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Doi: 10.1093/jcmc/zmy014
- Van Zoonen, W., Bartels, J., van Prooijen, A. M., & Schouten, A. P. (2018). Explaining online ambassadorship behaviors on Facebook and LinkedIn. Computers in Human Behavior, 87, 354-362.
- Van Zoonen, W. & Rice, R. E. (2017). Paradoxical implications of personal social media use for work. New Technology, Work, and Employment, 32(3), 228-246.
- Van Zoonen, W. Verhoeven, J.W.M., & Vliegenthart, R. (2017). Understanding the consequences of social media use for work. European Management Journal, 35(5), 595-605.
- Van Zoonen, W., Verhoeven, J.W.M., & Vliegenthart, R. (2016). Social media’s dark side: Inducing boundary conflicts. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 31(8), 1-15.
- Van Zoonen, W. & Van der Meer, G. L. A. (2016). Social media research: The application of supervised machine learning in organizational communication research. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 132-141. Doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.028
- Schafraad, P., Van Zoonen, W., & Verhoeven, P. (2016). The news value of Dutch corporate press releases as a predictor of corporate agenda building power. Public Relation Review, 42(3), 451-458. Doi: 10.1016.j.pubrev.2015.11.014
- Van Zoonen, W., Verhoeven, J.W.M., & Vliegenthart, R. (2016). How employees use Twitter to talk about work: A typology of work-related tweets. Computers in Human Behavior, 56, 329-339. Doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.021
- Ter Hoeven, C. L., Van Zoonen, W., & Fonner, K. L. (2016). The practical paradox of technology: The influence of communication technology on employee well-being, Communication Monographs, 83(2), 239-263. Doi: 10.1080/03637751.2015.1133920
- Ter Hoeven, C. L. & Van Zoonen W. (2015). Flexible work designs: Helping or hindering employee well-being? Testing the autonomy paradox. New Technology, Work and Employment, 30(3), 237-255. Doi: 10.1111/ntwe.12052
- Van Zoonen, W. & Van der Meer, G. L. A. (2015). Crisis communication in a socially mediated era. Journal of Public Relations Research, 27(5), 371-388. Doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2015.1062382
- Van Zoonen, W., Van der Meer, G. L. A., & Verhoeven, J. W. (2014). Employees work-related social-media use: His master’s voice. Public Relations Review, 40(5), 850-852. Doi: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.07.001
- Van Zoonen, W., Verhoeven, J.W.M., & Elving, W.J.L. (2014). Understanding employees’ work-related social media use: An extension of theory of planned behavior. International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, 3(4), 164-183.