Simmelian ties, organizational justice, and knowledge sharing in virtual workgroups

Much IS research brings a priori theoretical constructs to its domain of study, and this can generate distorted outcomes. To avoid this danger, IS research should be \u27lifeworld-oriented\u27. Characteristics of the lifeworld are drawn from philosophy and applied to examples of IS research. Surprisingly, both positivist and critical research can be both theorizing and lifeworld-oriented, though in different ways. A proposal is then made for \u27lifeworld-oriented IS research\u27, which, by taking into account the lifeworlds of both researcher and researched, can make IS research richer and more relevant

Network Diversity and Social Cohesion in Creative Performance: A View of Communication Media Mix

Creative performance is a fundamental form of knowledge creation in knowledge intensive organizations. While some studies emphasize the importance of diversity on creative performance, others argue for the role of socially cohesive groups with strong third-party connections. To address the gaps in the literature, this study examines the influence of three attributes of dyadic ties (i.e., network diversity, social cohesion, and communication media mix) on creative performance. From the knowledge, social and technology perspectives, we empirically tested our model using a social network methodology with dyads working on knowledge intensive tasks. The results suggest that network diversity is positively associated with creative performance, and moderate level of social cohesion is preferred for creative performance. The findings also show that the influence of social cohesion on creative performance is weakened by the degree of communication media mix. Implications for research and practice are discussed with respect to creativity in organizations

Simmelian ties, organizational justice, and knowledge sharing in virtual workgroups

We argue that types of Simmelian-tied employee dyads (dyads embedded in three-person cliques) influences organizational justice perceptions, and knowledge sharing within and across organizational boundaries through virtual workgroups. We study the interaction between employees\u27 advice and friendship ties, shared interpersonal, interactional, procedural and distributive justice perceptions, and the types of knowledge shared from a social network perspective. We predict that Simmelian-tied advice and friendship dyads influence justice perceptions, and in turn knowledge sharing. Compared to Simmelian-tied advice dyads, we suggest that Simmelian-tied friendship dyads were hypothesized to be strongly associated with congruent distributive, interpersonal, and interpersonal justice perceptions. Congruent procedural justice perceptions were likely to be associated with both Simmelian-tied advice and friendship ties. We hypothesized that distributive, procedural, and informational justice perceptions were likely to be shared across formal organizational boundaries through strong friendship ties. We also predicted that positive congruent procedural, interpersonal and informational justice perceptions influenced expert knowledge sharing while congruent distributive justice perceptions influenced product knowledge sharing

Simmelian ties, organizational justice, and knowledge sharing in virtual workgroups: Research-in-Progress

17th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 200