Structural relationship between social network, social capital, knowledge sharing, and innovation among tourism small businesses in a tourism cluster

Purpose This study has adopted theoretical frameworks of social capital, social networks and the Community of Practice to study how different types of relationships influence the knowledge sharing relationship. This paper aims to suggest that building social capital, particularly structural capital, is part of expected key in knowledge sharing networks. Design/methodology/approach Using social capital theory, through social network analysis of 111 management students in the US business school, identified key social capital dimension in knowledge sharing networks. To incorporate the interdependency among examined relationships, network logistic regression with the quadric assignment procedure was used. Findings The proposed research model showed that about 98% of the existence of knowledge sharing relationship could be correctly predicted. Among three dimensions of social capital, this study found a superior influence of the structural dimension (i.e. task interdependence) in predicting having a knowledge sharing relationship. The significant effect of trust and friendship network on knowledge sharing was also found. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research were also discussed. Originality/value Existing literature as to how people learn through knowledge sharing is limited in at least two important ways. First, scholars of knowledge management acknowledge that organizational knowledge originates from dyadic relationships between or among individuals at work. However, prior research has heavily relied on survey responses from one’s perception of knowledge sharing experience, viewing as unidirectional. Second, substantial attention of prior research has been devoted to the factors of individual attributes. Emphasizing individual interactions as the fundamental building blocks of learning, this study focuses more on relational characteristics of knowledge sharing based on social capital theory.

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Continuous Knowledge Sharing in Online Social Network Communities

Virtual Community Participation and Motivation ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-0312-7.ch014 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 228-247

Author(s):

Stella W. Tian

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Social Network ◽

Knowledge Sharing ◽

Online Social Network ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Network Services ◽

Community Members ◽

Social Mechanism ◽

Dynamic Interactions ◽

Network Communities

Drawing upon Jasperson, Carter, and Zmud’s feature-centric view of technology (Jasperson, Carter, & Zmud, 2005) and Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s three dimensions of social capital factors (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), this chapter develops a conceptual model to elaborate the dynamic interactions between Social Network Services (SNS) features, social capital factors, and motivational antecedents on continuous participation in knowledge sharing activities among Online Social Network (OSN) community members. A number of SNS features, social capital factors, and motivational antecedents are set forth in this chapter. And the mechanism that links these factors is reviewed. It is proposed that, with embedded social mechanism, SNS features can strengthen motivations to continued participation through social capital facilitators.

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