A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Enterprise social networking: A knowledge management perspective
Authors: Matti Mäntymäki, Kai Riemer
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2016
Journal: International Journal of Information Management
Journal name in source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Journal acronym: INT J INFORM MANAGE
Volume: 36
Issue: 6, Part A
First page : 1042
Last page: 1052
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 0268-4012
eISSN: 1873-4707
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.06.009
Abstract
Employees' sustained knowledge contributions and their engagement in the platform is needed to materialize the organizational benefits from enterprise social networking (ESN). This paper adopts a knowledge management perspective on ESN. Through a mixed methods approach we examine how employees use ESN and the value of these uses. With a qualitative content analysis we identify five uses of ESN, problem solving, ideas and work discussion, events and updates, task management, and informal talk. With a survey we further show how these uses drive value of ESN. The results demonstrate that generating and obtaining new ideas for work by participating in discussions and finding solutions for work-related problems are the key sources of value. The results further show that the socially and work-oriented ESN uses are closely intertwined. Hence, the informal discussions in ESN are a lubricant for more utilitarian uses that should not be crowded out from the platform. Finally, we theorize that a specific advantage of ESN over information repositories and discussion forums is how ESN enables users to meet their social and work-related goals simultaneously. Our study offers a granular view of ESN use and guidance for developing organizational ESN policies. Crown Copyright (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Employees' sustained knowledge contributions and their engagement in the platform is needed to materialize the organizational benefits from enterprise social networking (ESN). This paper adopts a knowledge management perspective on ESN. Through a mixed methods approach we examine how employees use ESN and the value of these uses. With a qualitative content analysis we identify five uses of ESN, problem solving, ideas and work discussion, events and updates, task management, and informal talk. With a survey we further show how these uses drive value of ESN. The results demonstrate that generating and obtaining new ideas for work by participating in discussions and finding solutions for work-related problems are the key sources of value. The results further show that the socially and work-oriented ESN uses are closely intertwined. Hence, the informal discussions in ESN are a lubricant for more utilitarian uses that should not be crowded out from the platform. Finally, we theorize that a specific advantage of ESN over information repositories and discussion forums is how ESN enables users to meet their social and work-related goals simultaneously. Our study offers a granular view of ESN use and guidance for developing organizational ESN policies. Crown Copyright (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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