Open AccessKnowledge Sharing on Enterprise Social Media: Practices to Cope With Institutional Complexity
Author(s) -
Oostervink Nick,
Agterberg Marlous,
Huysman Marleen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/jcc4.12153
Subject(s) - affordance , knowledge sharing , knowledge management , corporation , reputation , perspective (graphical) , social media , business , public relations , face (sociological concept) , sociology , psychology , political science , computer science , social science , finance , artificial intelligence , law , cognitive psychology
This study examines the use of enterprise social media ( ESM ) for organizational knowledge sharing and shows that professionals face ambiguities because their knowledge sharing behavior is informed by an institutional complexity that consists of 2 dissimilar institutional logics: logics of the profession, and logics of the corporation. Our qualitative case study of an ESM at an IT consultancy organization shows that professionals find ways to manage the ambiguities they experience by engaging the affordances of ESM in such a way as to develop coping practices: connection management, reputation management, and information management. By complementing the affordance perspective with an institutional logics perspective, we are able to advance scholarly understanding on how ESM can facilitate but also frustrate knowledge sharing.