Abstract
This study focuses on two network characteristics of an IS support community – bridging and reaching – and examines their effects on knowledge transfer and IS support professional's productivity. Bridging is studied through Burt’s structural holes (constraint) measure; Reaching is studied through Valente and Foreman’s closeness centrality (radiality) measure. We posit that structural hole access and closeness centrality are positively related to IS support professional’s productivity. To test our hypotheses, we collected archival data comprising 11,409 system usage problem records reported by over 2,000 users during an 11-month post-implementation period of a new enterprise system, SAP/R3, in a large U.S. company. We analyzed the data using social network analysis and analysis of covariance. Our results provide strong support for our hypotheses. Our study offers new insight into traditional arguments on the path-dependency of experience learning and absorptive capacity and suggests several ways for IS professionals to improve their productivity.
Recommended Citation
Chi, Lei and Deng, Xuefei(Nancy), "Knowledge Transfer in Information Systems Support Community: Network Effects of Bridging and Reaching" (2011). ICIS 2011 Proceedings. 28.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2011/proceedings/onlinecommunity/28
Knowledge Transfer in Information Systems Support Community: Network Effects of Bridging and Reaching
This study focuses on two network characteristics of an IS support community – bridging and reaching – and examines their effects on knowledge transfer and IS support professional's productivity. Bridging is studied through Burt’s structural holes (constraint) measure; Reaching is studied through Valente and Foreman’s closeness centrality (radiality) measure. We posit that structural hole access and closeness centrality are positively related to IS support professional’s productivity. To test our hypotheses, we collected archival data comprising 11,409 system usage problem records reported by over 2,000 users during an 11-month post-implementation period of a new enterprise system, SAP/R3, in a large U.S. company. We analyzed the data using social network analysis and analysis of covariance. Our results provide strong support for our hypotheses. Our study offers new insight into traditional arguments on the path-dependency of experience learning and absorptive capacity and suggests several ways for IS professionals to improve their productivity.