Summary
Most research on knowledge sharing relies on individuals’ survey reports of their own sharing, and concentrates on individual attributes. This study treats knowledge sharing as a relationship between two people and asks how other types of relationships shape it. The framework draws on social capital theory, social networks, and the Community of Practice.
We collected network data from 111 management students at a business school in the United States. Because ties in a network depend on one another, we used network logistic regression with the quadratic assignment procedure to test which relationships predict the presence of a knowledge sharing tie.
The model correctly predicted about 98% of the knowledge sharing relationships. Among the three dimensions of social capital, the structural dimension, measured as task interdependence, had the strongest influence on whether two people shared knowledge. Trust and friendship networks also had significant effects.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that building structural social capital, such as interdependent tasks, is a practical lever for encouraging knowledge sharing, alongside trust and friendship.
Citation
Han, S. H., Yoon, S. W., & Chae, C. (2020). Building social capital and learning relationships through knowledge sharing: A social network approach of management students’ cases. Journal of Knowledge Management, 24(4), 921–939. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-11-2019-0641
Indexed in: SSCI
Citation
@online{2020,
author = {},
title = {Building {Social} {Capital} and {Learning} {Relationships}
Through {Knowledge} {Sharing:} {A} {Social} {Network} {Approach} of
{Management} {Students’} {Cases}},
date = {2020-05-29},
url = {https://chadchae.github.io/posts_publication/2020-05-29-social-capital-learning-relationships-knowledge-sharing/social-capital-learning-relationships-knowledge-sharing.html},
langid = {en}
}