Are you getting full benefits from the use of social media? A review combining the concepts of social media, social capital and knowledge sharing

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5902/1983465939226

Keywords:

knowledge sharing, social media, social capital, tacit knowledge, trust

Abstract

Purpose - The social media have become powerful tools that can be used to do much more than connecting relatives and friends, helping find a job or providing advertising space. This study aims to present the benefits of combining the subjects related to Knowledge Sharing, Social Media and Social Capital theory.

Design/methodology/approach – Literature review of 22 papers identified as relevant when combining the subjects Social Media, Social Capital and Knowledge Sharing. The 22 documents were subjected of content analysis.

Findings – The analysis of the literature revealed two fundamental roles for social media within organizations – an operational role – working as a channel or tool; a transformative role – used to support organizational strategy.

Research limitations/implications - The limitation of this study is related to the limited number of papers that resulted from the search.

Practical implications – The benefits of combining the three subjects include improvements on informal communication, better collaboration and cooperation, and a positive influence on job performance and innovation.

Originality/value - The proposed research agenda highlights the importance of future investigations into the sharing of tacit knowledge through Social Media; focusing on how to generate trust via Social Media and suggests research attention related to knowledge protection.

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Author Biographies

Rosangela Fritscher Santos, PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL - PUCRS

Rosangela Fritscher Santos is a practitioner on Information Technology industry – software development area - with over 20 years of experience on different lines of business. In the last 7 years has been leading software development teams. She obtained her Master’s degree at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), School of Business, Brazil in 2019; has a bachelor degree in Computer Science from PUCRS, specialization in General Management (UFRGS) and in People Management (UNISINOS). Her areas of interest are knowledge management, knowledge sharing, organizational learning, software development and teams.

Mirian Oliveira, PUCRS Porto Alegre - Brazil; ISEG – Lisbon – Portugal

Mírian Oliveira is a professor and researcher at Business School (PUCRS, Brazil) and invited professor at ISEG (University of Lisbon, Portugal). She leads a research group about Knowledge Management (Brasil) and participate the research group Advance (Portugal). She obtained her doctoral degree in Business Administration from the UFRGS in 1999. She has supervised 7 PhD students and more than 30 Master students. Her current research interests include Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Hiding, Knowledge Hoarding and Research Method. Her research on these topics has been published widely (e.g. in Journal of Knowledge Management, Knowledge and Process Management, Computers in Human Behavior, and Journal of Business Research).

Marcirio Silveira Chaves, PUCRS - Porto Alegre - Brazil

Marcirio Silveira Chaves is an Associate Professor in the Business School at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil where he leads the research group Managing Projects and Information Technology - MProTech. He holds a Ph.D. in Informatics at University of Lisbon, Portugal. Dr. Chaves' areas of interest in teaching and research are Project Management, Information Systems, Social Media and Knowledge Management. He has supervised 15 Master students. His research accomplishments have been published in over 70 peer-reviewed papers with more than 1000 citations in reputed outlets and conferences. His current h-index is 16. He is a member of the editorial board of three journals: Iberoamerican Journal of Project Management, Journal of Information Technology Management, and Tourism & Management Studies. Dr. Chaves regularly serves as a reviewer in journals such as International Journal of Information Management, European Business Review and Knowledge Management Research & Practice. He has also experience as coordinator in national and international research projects funded by Brazilian and European official agencies.

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Published

2021-06-29

How to Cite

Santos, R. F., Oliveira, M., & Chaves, M. S. (2021). Are you getting full benefits from the use of social media? A review combining the concepts of social media, social capital and knowledge sharing. Revista De Administração Da UFSM, 14(2), 349–368. https://doi.org/10.5902/1983465939226

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