Idea Generation in Enterprise Social Media: Open versus Closed Groups and Their Network Structures

Abstract

Social network theory has produced conflicting results regarding the link between different social network structures-bridging versus bonding-and idea generation. To address this conundrum, we conduct a naturally occurring quasi-experiment of 126 open and 108 closed groups within an Enterprise Social Media (ESM) system of a multinational enterprise. Our findings show that idea generation occurs when the type of social network structure-bridging or bonding-is matched to a group's openness or closedness, respectively. We further show that the reverse is counterproductive: when closed groups display bridging ties and open groups display bonding ties, idea generation is significantly undermined. Theoretically, these findings clarify the conditions and mechanisms by which both bridging and bonding can result in idea generation and provide a deeper understanding of the use of ESM for idea generation. Practically, our findings provide valuable and actionable insights regarding the use of ESM for idea generation in groups.

A Synthesized Perspective on Privacy and Transparency in the Digital Workplace

“…Sources Transparency as a driver of privacy concerns [9], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], , [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45] Transparency as a solution for privacy concerns [26], [33], [38], [42], [44], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50]…”

“…For transparency to have a positive impact on privacy concerns, data should be exchanged on a team level. When the overall transparency level has increased, for example, in an enterprise social media tool, data should be exchanged for idea generation [49]. Sharing data between employees, for example, via groupware systems, helps reduce privacy concerns, although it might increase the complexity [26].…”

Digital Discipline: Theorizing Concertive Control in Online Communities1

“…Further, concertive control is more likely to arise in closed than open online communities (P2b), because closed groups are more likely to develop more personalized relationships, trust and mutual respect, shared personal content, and normative forces (such as reciprocity) needed for group identification and peer influence to form, and greater accountability and social obligation among members (van Osch & Bulgurcu, 2020). In open online communities, users are typically voluntary, often anonymous or pseudonymous, and members can come and go at will (Kraut & Resnick, 2011;Ransbotham & Kane, 2011;Wellman & Giulia, 1999).…”

Open innovation starts from home: the potentials of enterprise social media (ESM) in nurturing employee innovation

“…Although researchers have noted the potential of ESM as a tool for innovation, this promise has not fully materialized in practice (Roberts and Piller, 2016;Wang et al, 2022). Specifically, some researchers remain skeptical of the impact ESM has on innovation due to the complex nature of the innovation process (Van Osch and Bulgurcu, 2020;Pitafi et al, 2020;Rahman, 2020;Recker et al, 2016;Sun et al, 2019). Researchers who debate the role of social technologies in enabling or facilitating knowledge-sharing and innovation have echoed these reservations as well (Berraies, 2019;Figueroa and Cranefield, 2012;Giermindl et al, 2017).…”

“…This approach is both grounded in theory, and flexible enough to help study different ESM applications with a variety of features. Furthermore, this context-specific approach to modeling technology use and its affordances offers a better foundation for theorization and explanation of technology use(Van Osch and Bulgurcu, 2020). The diagonal values in italic are the square root of AVE (Average Variance Extracted)…”