“Rätt man på rätt plats” : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om anställdas upplevelser av externkommunikation på Instagram – en fallstudie inom Försvarsmakten

Sammanfattning: Today there is an abundance of information exchanges on social media, which means that companies and organizations need to be active and adaptable in order to be seen and noticed by their target group. Therefore, this subject is interesting to investigate from a perspective of media and communication studies. Social media has also become a channel that military units and armed forces around the world use to showcase a favorable media representation of their organization. However, previous research shows that the impact of external communication on employees within organizations is often overlooked, which can affect employees' motivation, identification and attitude towards the organization. This study aims to investigate and gain a deeper understanding of how employees within Försvarsmakten (the Swedish Armed Forces) experience Försvarsmaktens external communication on Instagram. We also wanted to investigate how they experience the profiling of women that Försvarsmakten uses on their Instagram. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the purpose of the study, four (4) different questions were formulated with the aim of answering the overall purpose of the study: How do employees within an organization feel that the external communication on Instagram reflects the reality within the organization? How do the employees experience the use of women in the organization's external communication on Instagram? Which values and messages do the employees feel the organization is working for internally? Which differences, if any, are there in how men and women experience the organization's external communication? In order to answer our questions, eight (8) telephone interviews were conducted with employees within Försvarsmakten from a total of five (5) different regiments located in different places in the country. The results were then analyzed through categorization and then connected with previous research in femvertising, marketing theory, branding and organizational theory. The result showed that the organization's external communication can have an impact on employees' experiences and attitudes towards the organization. The interview participants considered that the external image that Försvarsmakten publishes does not always match the actual organization, but that they still felt proud of the image that is published. The conclusion we can draw from this study is that employees' experiences are affected by the organization's external communication and the organization can with the help of certain factors, for example clear internal values and by ensuring that the communication reflects the actual reality within the organization, influence the employees' experiences of the external communication positively.