Visibility of knowledge in social media: Conceptualization and instrument development

Abstract

The notion of visibility of knowledge is important to gain insights into an evolving knowledge-sharing practice through social media use. This article offers a conceptual definition of and an instrument to measure the visibility of knowledge in online communities facilitated by social media. Following a review of the relevant literature and interviews with experts and knowledge workers, we produced a preliminary conceptual definition of visibility of knowledge in social media. Then, using four different datasets, we assessed the content validity of the items representing visibility of knowledge (n=218), pre-tested the scale (n=235), assessed the scale validity (n=333), cross-validated the scale (n=228), and established its nomological validity. This study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive conceptualization of an instrument for visibility of knowledge that can be used to understand the evolving knowledge-sharing process and its consequences on individual and organizational outcomes.