Enterprise social networking and service innovation: a governance perspective

To innovate, firms need to share knowledge across their different functions. An increasing number of organizations are using enterprise social networking (ESN) for knowledge sharing internally because it is more effective than traditional knowledge management systems. However, ESN use can also have some negative outcomes; for example, it may distract employees from their work and overload them with information, while also providing a channel for leaking confidential information. This study aims to understand how knowledge sharing through ESN affects the level of innovation in firms from the service industry and how this relationship is affected by the governance of ESN. Using data from a survey of 104 participants from global financial firms, we find that the level of innovation in firms is enhanced by the use of ESN for knowledge sharing, and that governance positively moderates this relationship. The paper concludes with some theoretical and practical contributions

Essays on enterprise social media: moderation, shop floor integration and information system induced organizational change

The digital transformation increases the pressure on innovation capabilities and challenges organizations to adapt their business models. In order to cope with the increased competitiveness, organizations face two significant internal challenges: Enabling internal digital collaboration and knowledge sharing as well as information system-induced change. This dissertation will investigate seven related research questions divided in two main parts. The first part focuses on how an organization can foster digital knowledge exchanges and collaboration in global organizations. Enterprise social media has attracted the attention of organizations as a technology for social collaboration and knowledge sharing. The dissertation will investigate how organizations can moderate the employee discourse in such platforms from a novel organizational perspective and provide insights on how to increase the encouragement for employees to contribute and assure content quality. The developed framework will provide detailed moderation approaches. In addition, the risk of privacy concerns associated with organizational interference in the new digital collaboration technologies are evaluated. The second part of the dissertation shifts the focus to the shop floor environment, an area that has faced substantial digital advancements. Those advancements change the organizational role of the shop floor to a more knowledge work-oriented environment. Firstly, a state of research regarding technology acceptance and professional diversity is presented to create an enterprise social media job-characteristic framework. Further, a unique and longitudinal shop floor case study is investigated to derive organizational challenges for enterprise social media and potentials for empowerment. To validate the future shop floor environment needs use cases for the shop floor are derived and a user profile is established. The case study is extended by expert interviews to focus on conceptualizing organizational information systems-induced change. In this regard, the role of work practices, organizational and employee mindset and information system change are integrated into a holistic organizational change model that targets employee empowerment. This dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of enterprise social media from an organizational management and shop floor perspective. It contributes to understanding new digital needs at the shop floor and the information systems-induced change journey towards digital employee empowerment

Negative Effects of Enterprise Social Networks on Employees - A Case Study

Enterprise social networks (ESNs) foster internal information exchange, knowledge management, and organizational learning, among other things, and are thus essential in the digital workplace. The use of ESNs in companies can support employees’ performance and result in positive outcomes. However, literature on technostress and social media use stresses that ESNs can also negatively affect employees. Research in this context often focuses on public social media, as well as on the implementation phase in companies but not on long-term use within companies. In this study, we investigate possible ESNinduced stressors and their effects on employee ESN use in the context of a company-internal social platform implemented several years ago. We conducted a single case study in the German office of a global company in the health industry. The results indicate that technostressors overload, uncertainty, complexity, job insecurity, invasion of privacy, work-home conflict, involuntary levels of participation, diminished reputation, lack of experience, and language barriers negatively affect employees ESN use. These are moderated by personality traits, traits, confidence levels regarding ESN use, skills, corporate culture, and employees attitudes toward ESN