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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  A Little Help from My Friends: How Receiving Assistance Affects Participation in Online Knowledge-Sharing Communities

  Eunkwang Seo, Frank Nagle and Sonali K. Shah

  Online knowledge-sharing communities are important arenas for the development and exchange of knowledge; both firm participation and sponsorship in communities are increasing, as is scholarly interest in understanding how interactions between members shape subsequent participation. We contribute to this literature by examining the relationship between two increasingly relevant, yet underexplored, sets of factors: we examine the effects of with whom an interaction occurs (a user or an employee) on two types of participatory outcomes (future asking versus future replying). Specifically, we examine whether receiving a reply to a question––and from whom the reply is received––affects a new member’s likelihood of asking another question or replying to a question. We examine fifteen years of data from Statalist, the online community that formed around the Stata statistical software package. Our findings show that receiving a reply from another user is positively associated with future questioning, but negatively associated with future replying. However, receiving a reply from a firm employee is positively associated with future replying. To help address endogeneity concerns, we conducted qualitative interviews with Stata employees, used fixed-effects models, implemented an instrumental variable-based approach, utilized a two-stage Heckman selection model, and applied coarsened exact matching; the findings remain consistent. These findings suggest that social interactions play a key, albeit nuanced, role in shaping subsequent participation and the continued health of a community.

  Keywords: online communities; knowledge development; innovation; reciprocity; Knowledge Sharing; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Interpersonal Communication;

  Citation:

  Seo, Eunkwang, Frank Nagle, and Sonali K. Shah. "A Little Help from My Friends: How Receiving Assistance Affects Participation in Online Knowledge-Sharing Communities." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-026, August 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2020 (Revised July 2020)

  Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent

  Michael L. Tushman, John Winsor and Kerry Herman

  Deloitte Consulting’s General Manager Balaji Bondili, head of Pixel, considers how best to grow Deloitte Consulting’s use of open (on-demand) talent, as consulting companies and their clients face transformative change in the way client engagements and projects get done. Pixel, started in 2014, helps facilitate open (or on-demand) talent and crowdsourcing for Deloitte Consulting client engagements, to access specific, difficult-to-find expertise, collaborate to develop new products and/or insights, and to design, build, and test new digital assets. Bondili has found some avid users—and evangelists—of Pixel’s services among Deloitte Consulting’s principals, however uptake across the broader organization has been slow, and in some pockets has met with deep resistance.

  Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Tushman, Michael L., John Winsor, and Kerry Herman. "Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent." Harvard Business School Case 420-003, June 2020. (Revised July 2020.)  View Details

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• Article | MIT Sloan Management Review | Summer 2020

  Accelerating Innovation Through a Network of Ecosystems: What Companies Can Learn from One of the World's Largest Networks of Accelerator Labs

  Elizabeth J. Altman and Frank Nagle

  A United Nations agency with a sweeping mission and sprawling global presence may not appear to be the most likely place where companies can learn new techniques for accelerating innovation — but appearances can be deceiving. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), focuses on solving the world’s most complex problems through a distributed network of local ecosystems. In our exploratory research, we find that this organization is making exceptionally progressive innovation moves both at its headquarters and in the field by building and sustaining one of the world’s largest networks of accelerator labs — 60 of them, serving 78 countries. We discuss how companies can learn from their efforts, and highlight examples of companies already embracing the “network of ecosystems” style of innovation.

  Keywords: accelerator labs; business ecosystems; Networks; Innovation and Invention;

  Citation:

  Altman, Elizabeth J., and Frank Nagle. "Accelerating Innovation Through a Network of Ecosystems: What Companies Can Learn from One of the World's Largest Networks of Accelerator Labs." MIT Sloan Management Review 61, no. 4 (Summer 2020).  View Details

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