Knowledge sharing in social networks: considering the role of political skill and trust

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-140
Author(s):  
Stephanie R. Seitz ◽  
Kaumudi Misra
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Political Skill ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complex Knowledge

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to bring a more individual focus to social networks in theorizing the social process of knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical model proposes that political skill will shape an individual's social network. Further, political skill within a network will influence the degree of complex knowledge sharing, which likely happens through the mechanism of affective- and cognitive-based trust.FindingsTheoretical implications and future research directions are discussed.Originality/valueKnowledge sharing is an inherently social process and as such occurs within the context of social networks in an organization. However, research to date has not fully explored the details of how and why complex knowledge sharing happens within a social network. Generally, theory on social networks has focused on structural qualities of a network, rather than the individual characteristics of the members of that network. This paper brings a more individual focus to social networks in theorizing the social process of knowledge sharing.

scholarly journals Social Network Analysis Visualization

2015 ◽  
pp. 257-270
Author(s):  
Mohana Shanmugam ◽  
Yusmadi Yah Jusoh ◽  
Rozi Nor Haizan Nor ◽  
Marzanah A. Jabar
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Online Social Network ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Gaps ◽  
The Social ◽  
Network Studies ◽  
Academic Study

The social network surge has become a mainstream subject of academic study in a myriad of disciplines. This chapter posits the social network literature by highlighting the terminologies of social networks and details the types of tools and methodologies used in prior studies. The list is supplemented by identifying the research gaps for future research of interest to both academics and practitioners. Additionally, the case of Facebook is used to study the elements of a social network analysis. This chapter also highlights past validated models with regards to social networks which are deemed significant for online social network studies. Furthermore, this chapter seeks to enlighten our knowledge on social network analysis and tap into the social network capabilities.

Who is in the center? A case study of a social network in an emergency management organization

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Dahlberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Management Organization

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the social network in an emergency management organization during a large exercise held in Greenland in 2016. Inspired by approaches in business and organizational studies the aim is to investigate the flow of information through formal as well as informal channels. Design/methodology/approach Social network analysis is applied to model this flow and the social network is analyzed with regard to core/periphery structure and actor centrality. In order to explore the relationships between actor attributes such as age, years of experience, operational Arctic experience, smoking and personal interests, a regression analysis is employed with membership of the network core as dependent variable. Findings The findings show that smoking, rank and ad hoc membership of the emergency management organization influence the odds for being in the core of this particular social network most. Finally, some strengths and weaknesses of the approach are discussed as well as implications for future research in the field. Originality/value Emergency management tasks are often performed more through informal coordination than “by the book.” A medium for such informal coordination is the social network that emerges among individual actors who like each other, share interests and experience and communicate directly with each other. Emergency managers use that kind of social network to cut red tape and solve urgent problems and share knowledge in ways not mapped in plans or shown in organigrams. Most practitioners are aware of this, but it is a field not well theorized.

scholarly journals Social networks, accessed and mobilised social capital and the employment status of older workers

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 356-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaberi Gayen ◽  
Robert Raeside ◽  
Ronald McQuaid
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Older People ◽  
Job Search ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of social networks, and the social capital embedded in them, to secure employment if someone had become unemployed after the age of 50 years and to reveal the process of accessing and mobilising that social capital. Design/methodology/approach A case study of a Scottish labour market was undertaken which involved an interview-based survey of those who became unemployed in their early 50’s and tried to regain employment. The interview had structured and unstructured parts which allowed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare those who were successful in regaining work with those who were not. The uniqueness of the paper is the use of social network components while controlling for other socio-economic and demographic variables in job search of older workers. Findings Those older people who were unemployed and, returned to employment (reemployed) had a higher proportion of contacts with higher prestige jobs, their job searching methods were mainly interpersonal and the rate of finding their last job via their social networks was higher than those who remained unemployed. Both groups mobilised social capital (MSC), but those reemployed accessed higher “quality” social capital. “Strong ties”, rather than “weak ties”, were found to be important in accessing and mobilising social capital for the older workers who returned to employment. Research limitations/implications This work is limited to a local labour market and is based on a small but informative sample. However, it does show that policy is required to allow older people to enhance their social networks by strengthening the social capital embedded in the networks. The results support the use of intermediaries as bridges to help compensate for older people who have weak social networks. Besides the policy implications, the paper also has two distinct research implications. First, the use of social network component to the existing literature of older workers’ job search. Second, exploring the type and relational strength with network members to explain older workers’ reemployment. Practical implications The paper illustrates that how accessed and MSC can be measured. Social implications As populations age, this work points to an approach to support older people to re-enter employment and to include them in society. Originality/value The paper extends social network and employment literature to fill gaps on how older people require to both access and mobilise social capital. The importance of “strong ties” in the reemployment of older workers contrasts with much of the literature on younger workers where the “strength of weak ties” so far has been regarded as essential for successful job search. Measures are forwarded to reveal the relevance of social capital. The policy value of the work is in suggesting ways to facilitate older people re-enter or remain in work and hence sustain their well-being.

A study on the political skill of Korean entrepreneurs contributing to social network guarantee

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-346
Author(s):  
Xi Zhan ◽  
Choon-kwang Kim
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Political Skill ◽  
Business Administration ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance

Purpose – This paper aims to set social network, which is recently drawing the most attention in the business administration field, as a major dependent variable of political skill. It is because social network plays a very important role in improving the productivity and performance of firms, and, in actuality, many researches have proved that social network greatly contributes to firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Researches into social network have not yet established that “through what” or “how” social network can be formed and affected. Findings – In this study, the authors attempt to connect social network with political skill, which is a cause variable. Originality/value – This approach will give us a better understanding on the formation of social networks and its relationship with political skill, and so eventually, such negative recognition about the politics can be viewed from a different sight of angle.

Motivation and knowledge sharing: a meta-analysis of main and moderating effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 998-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuyet-Mai Nguyen ◽  
Tuan Phong Nham ◽  
Fabian Jintae Froese ◽  
Ashish Malik
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Avoidance Performance ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on knowledge sharing and the moderating effects of individual demographics, organizational context and cultural context in that relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a meta-analysis of 44 studies involving 14,023 participants to examine the direct and moderating effects of motivation on knowledge sharing. Findings Results revealed that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors were associated with higher levels of knowledge sharing, while the effect was stronger for intrinsic motivation. Moreover, results revealed that substantial variance was explained by moderating variables. Further investigation revealed that individual characteristics (age, gender), organizational context (organizational setting vs. open system, IT infrastructure) and cultural context (collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, performance orientation, power distance) moderated the motivation and knowledge sharing relationship. Research limitations/implications As a meta-analysis, this study is confined to variables that have been frequently analyzed in prior research. Future research could further increase our understanding of different types of knowledge sharing and various boundary conditions. Practical implications Organizations should provide customized incentive systems to specific target groups to align motivation and knowledge sharing. Multinational organizations may consider different motivation schemes across countries to better suit cultural differences. Originality/value Despite a growing number of studies highlighting the important role of motivation in predicting knowledge sharing, the evidence is mixed. Based on a meta-analysis, this study identified true relationships and identified moderating effects that help explain prior mixed results.

scholarly journals The relation between employee characteristics and knowledge sharing

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Matošková ◽  
Ottó Bartók ◽  
Lucie Tomancová
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Managerial Decision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Employee ◽  
Employee Characteristics ◽  
Positive Work

Purpose Knowledge sharing becomes crucial in today’s competitive world to foster organizational performance. This paper aims to explore which employee characteristics facilitate knowledge sharing in the organizations and to examine the dimensions of these characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Opinion-based questionnaires among employees in Czech companies were applied. The research design in this study was cross-sectional. The hypotheses were tested by Pearson’s correlations and regression analyses. Findings The findings support the idea that specific individual employee characteristics increase knowledge sharing in the organization. Four categories of potentially appropriate employee individual characteristics were suggested: social and communication skills; positive work feelings; competences for problem-solving; and employee’s self-efficacy. However, only employee’s positive work feelings and self-efficacy significantly predicted the extent of knowledge sharing in the organization. Practical implications The findings offer a basis for future research. The results of the study can be used in recruiting new employees and managerial decision-making. The recruitment methods and the selection methods deployed should enable the firm to attract those whose values are in harmony with the organization’s values. Managers should build a work environment that promotes greater and more trusting ties among employees via organizing social activities for employees, a supervisor’s acceptance of an employee’s autonomy and responsibility and increasing employees’ confidence in their abilities. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to investigate dimensions of employee knowledge-oriented characteristics. It supports the idea that some individual employee characteristics boost spontaneous knowledge sharing behaviour.

Tell me who you are and I will tell you which SNS you use: SNSs participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Gazit ◽  
Noa Aharony ◽  
Yair Amichai-Hamburger
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internal Locus Of Control ◽  
Demographic Questionnaire ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Year

Purpose Social networking sites (SNSs) have become an essential part of our lives. The purpose of this paper is to explore how demographic variables, SNS importance, social and informational usage, and personality traits (extroversion/introversion, openness, neuroticism, internal and external locus of control) can explain participation frequency of the four biggest SNSs in Israel: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted in Israel during the Fall semester of the 2017–2018 academic year and encompassed 244 students. Researchers used six questionnaires to gather data: a demographic questionnaire, a participation frequency questionnaire on four different SNSs, four SNSs importance questionnaire, social and informational usage on four different SNSs questionnaire, personality questionnaire (extroversion, openness and neuroticism) and the locus of control questionnaire. Findings The findings revealed that different social network sites play distinct roles for various individuals. WhatsApp, the most frequently used platform, is used more by women and people with internal locus of control. Facebook is more frequently used by open people and Instagram is more frequently used by women, younger adults and neurotic people. Twitter is more frequently used by men. In addition, for all SNSs, the higher the social and informational usage is, the more important the SNSs are to the users, which significantly explains participation frequency. Originality/value The differences between social networks can be evidence that each social network serves a different group and does not compete with other SNSs. This may well explain why many people make use of several social networks and have a tendency to move from one to another.

scholarly journals Problematizing profit and profitability: discussions

2020 ◽  
Vol 1233 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-793
Author(s):  
Alan Lowe ◽  
Yesh Nama ◽  
Alice Bryer ◽  
Nihel Chabrak ◽  
Claire Dambrin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Interpretive Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Collective Activity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Accounting Numbers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of an interdisciplinary discussion on the concepts of profit and profitability and various ways in which we could potentially problematize these concepts. It is our hope that a much greater attention or reconsideration of the problematization of profit and related accounting numbers will be fostered in part by the exchanges we include here.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts an interdisciplinary discussion approach and brings into conversation ideas and views of several scholars on problematizing profit and profitability in various contexts and explores potential implications of such problematization.FindingsProfit and profitability measures make invisible the collective endeavour of people who work hard (backstage) to achieve a desired profit level for a division and/or an organization. Profit tends to preclude the social process of debate around contradictions among the ends and means of collective activity. An inherent message that we can discern from our contributors is the typical failure of managers to appreciate the value of critical theory and interpretive research for them. Practitioners and positivist researchers seem to be so influenced by neo-liberal economic ideas that organizations are distrusted and at times reviled in their attachment to profit.Research limitations/implicationsProblematizing opens-up the potential for interesting and significant theoretical insights. A much greater pragmatic and theoretical reconsideration of profit and profitability will be fostered by the exchanges we include here.Originality/valueIn setting out a future research agenda, this paper fosters theoretical and methodological pluralism in the research community focussing on problematizing profit and profitability in various settings. The discussion perspectives offered in this paper provides not only a basis for further research in this critical area of discourse and regulation on the role and status of profit and profitability but also emancipatory potential for practitioners (to be reflective of their practices and their undesired consequences of such practices) whose overarching focus is on these accounting numbers.

scholarly journals Engagement and Performance Studies of Media Agencies Publications on Social Networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Mohcine Kodad
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Interaction Strategy ◽  
Facebook Pages

This paper presents a study that contributes to the existing work on the social diffusion and interaction strategy in social media. The aim is to know the most shared post by some electronic media in the world from end to end social network, and also to know post nature of the most successful one, and the link between different kind of interaction these are main objectives of this study. Our work is also considered as a ground and a base for social network analysis researchers in all social networks in order to allow them to benefit and help in their future research work from all information collected and results found via this study. An empirical analysis using multiple methods is conducted based on 275 Facebook publications gathered from the Facebook pages of 5 electronics journals the best one in its original country represented 5 countries in the world. This contribution discovered a set of important information and it is also projected to confirm hypothesis addressed in pre-existing studies

Work relationships: counteracting the negative effects of conflict

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn Jungst ◽  
Boris Blumberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Job Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Network Quality ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Guided by social resource theory, this study aims to examine the influence of conflict (i.e. task and relationship) on performance. The authors investigated whether job engagement mediates this relationship and whether social network quality moderates the relationship between conflict, job engagement and performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors built and tested a moderated mediation model, using data from 217 graduate students. Findings Results showed that job engagement operates as a mediating mechanism between task conflict and performance. The authors also found that the indirect effect of job engagement depended upon the quality of the social networks. When the quality of the social network was high, both the task and relationship conflict did not negatively influence the association between job engagement and performance. Research limitations/implications These findings provide new insights into how social embeddedness in the form of social network quality can create a social context in which conflict works out less detrimental. Practical implications Given that employees are interdependent and coworkers are likely to differ in their personal values and opinions, the authors conclude that managers should facilitate the development of meaningful relationships at work. Originality/value Whereas prior research has found conflict (i.e. task and relationship) to negatively associate with performance, the authors show that social networks do affect the strength of the relationship between conflict (i.e. task and relationship) and performance.

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