Uncovering the role of social media and cross-platform applications as tools for knowledge sharing

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem

PurposeLeaders, consultants and researchers are increasingly focused on enhancing the adoption of social networking tools to increase knowledge sharing practices and the success rate of organizations. This study was conducted to explore the adoption of social networking applications in public and private sector universities. This paper aims to discover how social networking applications can foster knowledge sharing practices among employees of universities.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on an interpretivist, qualitative research design using grounded theory. Fifty-two semi-structured and non-directive interviews were undertaken with employees of public and private sector universities. Participants were selected using purposive sampling, and thematic analysis was performed using the NVivo 11-Plus.FindingsThe study highlights how social media networking applications can be used effectively and efficiently to foster knowledge sharing practices in the workplace. Five emerging themes are identified as follows. Social media networking tools can enhance new knowledge, increase employee skills, promote a knowledge sharing culture, foster effective communication and increase employee involvement in research activities.Research limitations/implicationsSocial networking applications have received attention because executives and researchers are increasingly focused on finding new ways to use social networking tools in business. The effective and efficient use of social networking tools helps organizations to foster knowledge amongst employees, and can address various critical issues such as knowledge hoarding, lowers levels of skills and knowledge, poor communication and employee involvement, the lack of desire to share knowledge, and resistance toward technology.Originality/valueA brief systematic literature review on social media and knowledge sharing highlights that only 11 per cent of studies found that examined the link between social media and knowledge sharing practices across the world. The study therefore represents an effort to shed new light on the adoption of social networking tools in the context of knowledge sharing among universities employees. Social media applications have become popular across the world, and the speed of their uptake is evolving rapidly. However, their contribution toward organizational change is not yet known.

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem ◽  
Mohammad Javid Khan

Purpose Many organizations are struggling to achieve competitiveness due to lack of knowledge sharing (KS) practices. The sustainability of the service sector is linked to KS practices and creativity. Therefore, to survive in a dynamic business environment, universities have to formulate and implement such practices and innovative learning systems. This paper aims to highlight how social media networking apps can be used efficiently and effectively to support the antecedents of KS among the employees in public and private universities. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a positivistic approach and a quantitative research design. A survey was carried out with employees at public and private universities. The respondents were chosen based on simple random sampling with the purpose of increasing the validity and generalizability of the results in the context of university settings and for other sectors as well. Findings Certain individual and organizational factors have been found, which have been supported by social networking tools. These factors can enhance KS practices, such as informal relationships and social networking, effective communication and collaboration, mutual trust and the intention to share knowledge, the KS culture and new ideas. The results of this study reveal that social networking applications such as WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, Facebook, Research-gate, YouTube and personal blogs are more productive in supporting the antecedents of KS stated above in university settings. Research limitations/implications Social networking applications have received attention because executives and researchers are increasingly focusing on finding new ways to use social networking tools for business purposes. The effective and efficient use of social networking tools helps organizations to foster knowledge amongst employees to address various critical issues, such as knowledge hoarding, lower levels of skills and knowledge, lower levels of communication and employee involvement, a lack of the intention to share knowledge and resistance toward the adoption of new technology. Originality/value There is rare literature available on how social networking tools can support the antecedents of KS in university settings. Most of such literature has investigated the link between social media and KS using a systematic literature and qualitative research approach. This research is based on empirical study and it is unique as it investigates the hitherto under-researched issue of the adoption of social networking applications to foster the antecedents of KS in university settings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1241-1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuyet-Mai Nguyen ◽  
Ashish Malik

Purpose Online knowledge sharing is a critical process for maintaining organisational competitive advantage. This paper aims to develop a new conceptual framework that investigates the moderating impacts of innovation on self-efficacy, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards on employees’ online knowledge sharing behaviour in public and private sector companies. Design/methodology/approach This research analysed 200 responses to test the moderating effects of organisational innovation on the relationship between self-efficacy and rewards and online knowledge sharing behviours. The analysis was carried out using component-based partial least squares (PLS) approach and SmartPLS 3 software. Findings The results reveal that self-efficacy significantly affects online knowledge sharing behaviour in firms, regardless of the organisation type. Extrinsic rewards encourage employees in private companies to share knowledge online, whereas intrinsic rewards work effectively in public companies. Additionally, the study found the moderating role of organisational innovation in examining the relationship between rewards and online knowledge sharing behaviour. Research limitations/implications Future research may consider different dimensions such as knowledge donating and collecting behaviours as well as motives, such as self-enjoyment, reciprocity or social interaction ties, which may be investigated to get a deeper understanding of online knowledge sharing behaviour. Practical implications Firms must tailor training and rewards to suit employees’ abilities and needs so as to align with organisation type and innovation. Originality/value The study’s distinctive contribution is the under-researched context of Vietnamese public and private sector banks for investigating the moderating effects of organisational innovation on micro and meso factors on online knowledge sharing behaviour.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moumita Acharyya ◽  
Tanuja Agarwala

PurposeThe paper aims to understand the different motivations / reasons for engaging in CSR initiatives by the organizations. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between CSR motivations and corporate social performance (CSP).Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from two power sector organizations: one was a private sector firm and the other was a public sector firm. A comparative analysis of the variables with respect to private and public sector organizations was conducted. A questionnaire survey was administered among 370 employees working in the power sector, with 199 executives from public sector and 171 from private sector.Findings“Philanthropic” motivation emerged as the most dominant CSR motivation among both the public and private sector firms. The private sector firm was found to be significantly higher with respect to “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest” and “normative” CSR motivations when compared with the public sector firms. Findings suggest that public and private sector firms differed significantly on four CSR motivations, namely, “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest”, “normative” and “coercive”. The CSP score was significantly different among the two power sector firms of public and private sectors. The private sector firm had a higher CSP level than the public sector undertaking.Research limitations/implicationsFurther studies in the domain need to address differences in CSR motivations and CSP across other sectors to understand the role of industry characteristics in influencing social development targets of organizations. Research also needs to focus on demonstrating the relationship between CSP and financial performance of the firms. Further, the HR outcomes of CSR initiatives and measurement of CSP indicators, such as attracting and retaining talent, employee commitment and organizational climate factors, need to be assessed.Originality/valueThe social issues are now directly linked with the business model to ensure consistency and community development. The results reveal a need for “enlightened self-interest” which is the second dominant CSR motivation among the organizations. The study makes a novel contribution by determining that competitive and coercive motivations are not functional as part of organizational CSR strategy. CSR can never be forced as the very idea is to do social good. Eventually, the CSR approach demands a commitment from within. The organizations need to emphasize more voluntary engagement of employees and go beyond statutory requirements for realizing the true CSR benefits.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S11) ◽  
pp. 3089-3095

Indian banking sector is going through a massive transformation day by day with the advancement of Information and communication Technology and impact of digitization in the banking industry. After the core banking system, banks have moved further to reap the benefits of internet and mobile banking. In order to engage more customers anywhere and anytime without visiting the brick and mortar branches, the banks have now introduced the social media banking. Most of the people are already active in different social media platforms, so banks have grabbed that opportunity to reach people easily and provide services through social media. This paper has made an attempt to analyze the engagement of social media customers in different banks including public and private sector with reference to facebook bank page. The results show that most of the banks have presence on popular social media platforms. With respect to the engagement of customer to all facebook posts during the study period, public sector banks are posting more on their respective facebook page but the customers’ likes as well as dislikes are more for SBI, ICICI and AXIS. In case of shares and comments, SBI and PNB have more and are increasing continuously as these two banks post more on their respective facebook pages. But with respect to customer engagement per facebook post during the study period, customers are engaged more with private sector banks. And it can be said that regarding overall customer engagement people are more engaged with private sector over public sector banks.


Author(s):  
P. K. Muthukumar

Social media is never again an immaterial wonder; tools like Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, or YouTube have taken the world in a tempest. Social media has turned into a standard, changed individual connections, enabled people to add to number of issues, and produced new potential outcomes and difficulties to encourage joint effort. Associations have dire need of not just concentrating on advancement of new items and administrations, yet additionally giving explicit consideration to viable learning sharing, which is of indispensable significance for their success. The potential favourable position of grasping and executing web-based social networking is tremendous. Despite the fact that the enthusiasm for internet-based life is expanding, from one perspective information specialists and administrators are hanging tight to get engaged with this synergistic world, since they may not feel motivated or may not know about the benefits of utilizing these devices for work purposes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1979-1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem

PurposeThe failure rate of change is high amongst countries and cultures where collectivism, destructive politics and resistance are high. Therefore, change leaders are more focused on exploring how they can create networking and socialization amongst major organizational stakeholders that can minimize detrimental cynicism and lobbying during change implementation. This study is an attempt to shed light on how Social Networking Applications (henceforth SNAs) can facilitate change implementation processes in the insurance sector.Design/methodology/approachThe individual reaction and interaction realities during the change process cannot be discovered once and for all as there are varied perspectives on the same subjects. Therefore, a social constructionist position was used to understand the different realties of change managers and change recipients using the context of insurance sector.FindingsThe study documented how SNAs can play an active role in addressing the concerns of employees as well as managing and protecting knowledge sharing to facilitate the change implementation process. The collaborative and interactive nature of SNAs can enhance richness in knowledge sharing and can facilitate the participation of employees. Therefore, management should monitor these platforms as a means to improve the change process and to address the concerns of employees. These networking channels which include WhatsApp and Facebook can enhance social interactions, support and acceptance at individual and organizational levels.Research limitations/implicationsSocial media has become a familiar tool for employees to use to discuss internal changes and policies within their organizations. Social media enhances the richness, reach, knowledge exchange and effective internal communication potential amongst organizational change stakeholders. Using social media, change recipients are now more empowered and connected with their leadership that ever before. It is now easier to facilitate decision making during the change formulation and implementation process.Practical implicationsSocial media applications have become necessary to ensure incremental and radical changes to the survival of dynamic businesses. The findings of this study are beneficial for change leaders and recipients of change to implement successful organizational change using social media tools. The effective and efficient use of social media applications helps organizations to foster knowledge amongst employees and they can address various critical issues, that is resistance to change, lower levels of knowledge sharing and support for change acceptance and lack of employee participation in decision making.Originality/valueThere is an inadequate understanding regarding how SNAs play a role in facilitating the change process in both public and private sector organizations. This study offers a social mchange facilitation model with the help of social learning, social networking and social behaviourism theories.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean D. Darling ◽  
J. Barton Cunningham

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify unique values and competencies linked to private and public sector environments. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on critical incident interviews with a sample of senior leaders who had experience in both the public and private sectors. Findings The findings illustrate distinct public and private sector relevant competencies that reflect the unique values of their organizations and the character of the organization’s environments. This paper suggests a range of distinct public sector competencies including: managing competing interests, managing the political environment, communicating in a political environment, interpersonal motivational skills, adding value for clients, and impact assessment in decision-making. These were very different than those identified as critical for the private sector environment: business acumen, visionary leadership, marketing communication, market acumen, interpersonal communication, client service, and timely and opportunistic decision-making. Private sector competencies reflect private sector environments where goals need to be specifically defined and implemented in a timely manner related to making a profit and surviving in a competitive environment. Public sector competencies are driven by environments exhibiting more complex and unresolvable problems and the need to respond to conflicting publics and serving the public good while surviving in a political environment. Originality/value A key message of this study is that competency frameworks need to be connected to the organization’s unique environments and the values that managers are seeking to achieve. This is particularly important for public organizations that have more complex and changing environments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-251
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Muduli ◽  
Jeegnesh J. Trivedi

PurposeThe increased popularity of social media has been prompting the recruitment managers to use social media recruitment. Very little has been studied on the effectiveness of social media recruitment from the recruiter's perspective. Influenced by the diffusion of innovation theory, the study measures the usefulness of social media recruitment through various prehire and posthire recruitment outcomes. The study also used the media richness theory to examine the role of credibility and satisfaction as a mediating variable.Design/methodology/approachData has been collected from the recruiters in the public and private sector of India. Available literature is studied to develop survey instrument validated through experts from industry and academia. Pilot study was conducted to test for any construct weaknesses. Data is analyzed using AMOS.FindingsThe study result proved that social media recruitment is significantly related to both prehire outcomes and posthire outcomes. The result also proved the mediating effect of credibility and satisfaction and suggests recruitment practitioner to emphasize on disseminating credible, relevant and sufficient information through suitable communication mode.Practical implicationsHR professional to be careful about the information provided through a social media recruitment method. Practitioner to establish credibility of the information to create a sense of satisfaction by the applicants toward the information. Thus, as the information becomes more credible, the attraction to the organization also increases, which in turn results in more applicants applying for the job.Originality/valueThis is the first quantitative study to examine effectiveness of social media recruitment under the influence of mediator – credibility and satisfaction considering the data from the recruiters.


Subject Outlook for the banking sector. Significance The two-year recession has made Brazil’s public- and private-sector banks increasingly risk-averse in their lending to households and companies. This is likely to persist in 2017, owing to a very uncertain and fragile economic recovery, high unemployment and elevated levels of private-sector debt. Impacts Less-aggressive lending by national state banks will help public finances and give private banks a chance to increase market share. Spanish Santander will be the only foreign bank capable of competing in Brazil’s retail banking segment in the coming years. Other foreign banks lacking the necessary scale for profitable retail banking will focus on other niches.


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