Abstract
This study investigated the value of a member’s online social capital, in the social networking platform LinkedIn, in the following areas: member’s subject matter proficiency, member’s firm’s problem solving ability, and member’s firm’s innovation process. The analytical framework used the concepts of social networks and online social networks (OSNs); social network ties; social capital and online social capital; knowledge and novel knowledge; communities of practice (CoPs); problem solving; and innovation. Quantitative methods were used, involving analysis of data collected from a sample of LinkedIn members residing in South Africa. It was apparent from the analysis that knowledge acquired on LinkedIn, relating to a member’s subject matter proficiency, benefited the member's firm. It was also evident that this knowledge contributed to the firm’s problem solving process. The data did not, however, confirm or refute the proposition that knowledge acquired by members on LinkedIn contributed to their firms’ innovation. An overall observation from the data was that members did not perceive substantial value from the knowledge available on LinkedIn. The authors therefore recommend that greater initiative be taken by members and firms to adopt open networking approaches, using online social networks such as LinkedIn, starting with attitudinal and policy considerations on the part of firms.
Highlights
The emergence of online social networks (OSNs) and Web 2.0 has significantly contributed to the use of the Internet, as evidenced by the substantial membership of popular OSNs such as LinkedIn, which has over 450 million members (LinkedIn, 2016)
LinkedIn is the context of this study and it is distinguished from the other online social networks because its members are predominantly professionals who seek economic and non-economic benefits from their online social capital (LinkedIn, 2016)
The second research objective of this study was derived from the notion that the online social network LinkedIn is a suitable platform for a Community of practice (CoP): to ascertain whether knowledge acquired by members from the OSN site can facilitate problem solving in firms
Summary
The emergence of online social networks (OSNs) and Web 2.0 has significantly contributed to the use of the Internet, as evidenced by the substantial membership of popular OSNs such as LinkedIn, which has over 450 million members (LinkedIn, 2016). OSNs such as LinkedIn will progressively become a more viable source of knowledge, in particular tacit knowledge, the reason being that, when establishing a knowledge sharing community and expert locating services in social media, they will support implicit knowledge sharing among individuals (Gordeyeva, 2010). This will enable firms to use their employees as conduits of knowledge from the broader environment to the firm and vice versa.
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