The New Frontier of Industrial Relations Research: Investigating the Social Media Networks and Digital Geography of Contemporary Industrial Action

In contemporary industrial action, social media has become a crucial arena for trade unions, employers and the State competing to control the agenda and shape the narrative to their advantage. However, we still know very little about how the ‘battle of ideas’ during disputes unfolds on social media between industrial relations actors and within trade unions. This project addresses this lacuna through an investigation of the social media networks and digital geography of the 2018 UK Higher Education Strike – the longest in British history. It is the first of its kind to study this unique case through an interdisciplinary approach that combines insights from industrial relations, media and communication, and digital geography. Using “big data” from Twitter and in depth interviews with the main actors involved, new light is shed on the multi-faceted role that social media plays during disputes - both online and offline in physical spaces.