Internal social networks in work teams: structure, knowledge sharing and performance

Abstract

Purpose -From the structural perspective of social-capital theory, this research investigates how a team's social-network relationships affect its performance. More specifically, it concerns the type of work-group-internal connectedness in instrumental and expressive networks that is associated with enhanced team performance, and whether knowledge mediates these effects. Design/methodology/approach -The research was survey based, involving 76 work teams and a total of 499 employees in 48 organisations. The work teams carried out fairly knowledge-intensive but only moderately complex tasks, some of which were routine in nature. Findings -Both dense and fragmented instrumental-network structures affect work-team performance. However, fragmentation in expressive networks has a negative impact. Furthermore, the mediation results give empirical support to the implicit understanding that only instrumental networks transfer knowledge, especially if they are dense.Research limitations/implications -The results indicate that social-network relationships affect team performance and also provide access to social capital (here knowledge). However, instrumental and expressive networks differ in terms of theoretical and practical implications. Future research could overcome the limitations of this study through increasing the sample size and focusing on much more fine-grained intervening mechanisms (here knowledge sharing). Practical implications -The recommendation to managers is to stimulate dense instrumental relationships in order to facilitate knowledge sharing and avoid overly fragmented expressive relationships. Originality/value -First, in examining the social structure of both instrumental and expressive relationships this study responds to the growing call in organisational theory for research into the social content of social networks. Second, the contribution of this research paper lies in directly testing whether team knowledge mediates the effects of advice-network structures on team performance.

Knowledge‐Sharing Networks: Language Diversity, Its Causes, and Consequences

“…This can help “identify or reformulate problems, validate ideas and a course of action, offer critical perspective, discover opportunities, and allow problems to be better divided up through the division of labor” (Fliaster & Spiess, :100). This is what makes personal knowledge networks more important than other kinds of social networks such as expressive network (for non‐work related social support) that although important but are not vehicle for knowledge sharing within an organization (Henttonen, ). The previous literature suggests that it is important to develop a deep understanding of personal knowledge networks because these networks influence the “efficacy and efficiency by which individuals and collectives create knowledge by affecting their ability to access, transfer, absorb, and apply knowledge” (Phelps et al ., :3).…”

“…Such networks are important devices for informal knowledge sharing at the individual level, and by providing the basic structure for information flow, they also add considerable value to the formal knowledge-management efforts of an organization (Mariotti, 2012, Nirmala & Vemuri, 2009. Employees prefer to exchange knowledge within their personal networks because of trust on the relationships and the possibility to contextualize the knowledge through the continuous interaction (Henttonen et al, 2013). Therefore, Behrend and Erwee (2009), based on their empirical study, suggest that when it comes to determining knowledge flow within an organization, personal knowledge networks outclass any other formally established knowledge-sharing mechanism.…”

“…This can help "identify or reformulate problems, validate ideas and a course of action, offer critical perspective, discover opportunities, and allow problems to be better divided up through the division of labor" (Fliaster & Spiess, 2008:100). This is what makes personal knowledge networks more important than other kinds of social networks such as expressive network (for non-work related social support) that although important but are not vehicle for knowledge sharing within an organization (Henttonen, 2013 (Phelps et al, 2012:3). Personal knowledge networks are regarded as natural devices for knowledge sharing (Conway, 2002), but how good these devices are depends greatly on what different individuals in the network can offer (Widen & Hansen, 2012).…”

Live long and propser : Health-promoting conditions at work

“…Although the present results are cross-sectional, previous research has found that a high degree of decision latitude improves performance over time (Nagami et al, 2010). The cooperation and mutual problem-solving that is fostered by good social capital can be assumed to facilitate goal achievement and performance beyond that of individuals alone (Coleman, 1988;Putnam, 2000) and enable knowledge-sharing and improved performance (Henttonen et al, 2013;. Conditions for innovative learning are important for development of work processes in organisations (Ellström, 2001;Engeström, 2001;Engeström & Sannino, 2010).…”

“…It has been found that social climate and decision latitude are longitudinally associated with better performance in the occupations studied (Lohela Karlsson et al, 2010;Nagani, Tsutsumi, Tsuchiya & Morimoto, 2010). The networks between individuals at workplaces where there is good social capital are associated with knowledge-sharing (Henttonen, Janhonen & Johansson, 2013) and performance (Henttonen, Johansson & Janhonen 2014). Social capital and an innovative learning climate are likely to facilitate performance beyond what individuals can achieve alone without these work conditions (Coleman, 1988), and enable the exploration of new ways of working (Engeström, 2001;Ellström, 2010).…”