Article | Strategic Management Journal | March 2018

Enacting Knowledge Strategy Through Social Media: Passable Trust and the Paradox of Non-work Interactions

by Tsedal Neeley and Paul Leonardi

Abstract

Despite the recognition that knowledge sharing among employees is necessary to enact knowledge strategy, little is known about how to enable such sharing. Recent research suggests that social media may promote knowledge sharing because they allow social lubrication and the formation of trust. Our longitudinal and comparative analysis of social media usage at two large firms indicates that users who participate in non-work interactions on social media catalyze a cycle of curiosity and passable trust that enables them to connect and share knowledge. Paradoxically, the very non-work related content that attracts users to social media and shapes passable trust can become a source of tension, thwarting a firm’s ability to encapsulate knowledge in the form of routines and to use it to enact its strategy.

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Employees; Interactive Communication; Trust;

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Citation:

Neeley, Tsedal, and Paul Leonardi. "Enacting Knowledge Strategy Through Social Media: Passable Trust and the Paradox of Non-work Interactions." Special Issue on Strategy Processes and Practices: Dialogues and Intersections. Strategic Management Journal 39, no. 3 (March 2018): 922–946.

About the Author

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Tsedal Neeley
Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration
Organizational Behavior

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