Kaisa Henttonen

The development of a sense of virtual community

The feelings of membership in a virtual community have recently been conceptualised as a Sense of Virtual Community (SOVC). This paper explores its presence and development in one case community, an active virtual community we call Baby and Pregnancy community (BAP). On the basis of our analysis of triangulated qualitative data (narratives, interviews and observation), we suggest a refined SOVC framework that captures its antecedents and processes. We argue that there are three main antecedents of SOVC, namely, needs, similarity with other members, and impersonal trust, and that SOVC develops through the three processes of exchanging support, creating and making identification, and producing interpersonal trust.

Weblogs and internal communication in a corporate environment: a case from the ICT industry

Innovations in web-based technology have generated new channels for communicative purposes. Blogs provide organisations a unique opportunity for informal knowledge sharing. However, much on the current research on blogs has a normative orientation and a focus on tools rather than the related social and communicative issues. Our theoretical approach is internal communication, which we link with the characteristics of this emerging form of social software. Based on our case, we analyse the factors affecting the use of blogs in the corporate environment, position blogs in the sphere of mediated communication and identify a two-dimensional framework on the types of internal blogs and the related modes of communication.

Exploring Open Search Strategies And Their Perceived Impact On Innovation Performance—Empirical Evidence

Given Chesbroughs idea of open innovation, it could be said that external knowledge is an important element in the optimisation of in-house innovation. External knowledge is distributed among various actors and is accessible through many channels. However, we still do not know much about the search strategies that affect innovation performance. Our study therefore explores the relationship between open knowledge search strategies and company-level innovative performance. This study examines the open search strategies of 193 firms on the basis of cross-sectional data from Finnish markets. We identified four specific strategies, namely (1) market-driven, (2) science-driven, (3) intermediary-driven and (4) generic-knowledge-driven. According to the results, all except intermediary-driven strategies positively affect innovation performance.

Internal social networks in work teams: structure, knowledge sharing and performance

Purpose - From the structural perspective of social-capital theory, this research investigates how a teams social-network relationships affect its performance. More specifically, it concerns the type of work-group-internal connectedness in instrumental and expressive networks that is associated with enhanced team performance, and whether knowledge mediates these effects. Design/methodology/approach - The research was survey based, involving 76 work teams and a total of 499 employees in 48 organisations. The work teams carried out fairly knowledge-intensive but only moderately complex tasks, some of which were routine in nature. Findings - Both dense and fragmented instrumental-network structures affect work-team performance. However, fragmentation in expressive networks has a negative impact. Furthermore, the mediation results give empirical support to the implicit understanding that only instrumental networks transfer knowledge, especially if they are dense. Research limitations/implications - The results indicate that social-network relationships affect team performance and also provide access to social capital (here knowledge). However, instrumental and expressive networks differ in terms of theoretical and practical implications. Future research could overcome the limitations of this study through increasing the sample size and focusing on much more fine-grained intervening mechanisms (here knowledge sharing). Practical implications - The recommendation to managers is to stimulate dense instrumental relationships in order to facilitate knowledge sharing and avoid overly fragmented expressive relationships. Originality/value - First, in examining the social structure of both instrumental and expressive relationships this study responds to the growing call in organisational theory for research into the social content of social networks. Second, the contribution of this research paper lies in directly testing whether team knowledge mediates the effects of advice-network structures on team performance.

Knowledge sharing and individual work performance: an empirical study of a public sector organisation

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether individual-level knowledge sharing (in terms of attitudes, benefit estimations, self-efficacy and actualised behaviours) affects individual work performance. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are tested through structural equation modelling of survey data collected from 595 members of a public organisation. Findings The findings confirm the hypothesis that knowledge-sharing propensity impacts positively on knowledge-sharing behaviour. Additionally, knowledge-sharing behaviour mediates the relationship between knowledge-sharing propensity and individual performance. The latter effect is also significant amongst the most highly educated members of the organisation but not among those with the lowest educational levels. Originality/value This paper provides insights into the knowledge-sharing–attitude–behaviour–work performance linkage. It thus addresses a relatively neglected area in knowledge management (KM) research, namely, that of individual knowledge behaviours and their performance impact, with an aim to better understand the micro-foundations of KM. It also contributes to knowledge on KM in the public sector.

SEARCH FAR AND DEEP: FOCUS OF OPEN SEARCH STRATEGY AS DRIVER OF FIRM'S INNOVATION PERFORMANCE

The effects of open search strategies (i. e., search for firm-external knowledge) on firm-level innovation performance are still ambiguous in the existing literature. We introduce the concepts of focused search strategy and multi-focus search strategy as differentiating factors for a firm. The results of a cross-industrial survey from Finnish markets suggest that applying one focused search strategy intensively generally enhances the firm-level innovation performance. It also seems that emphasizing multiple search strategies intensively improves performance even more, and that the effect becomes stronger, the greater the number of knowledge sources used. Furthermore, the results show that firm-specific technological capabilities have a negative moderating effect in terms of highly focused search strategies, but this diminishes when the focus gets more diverse.

Visual Network Analysis of Twitter Data for Co-organizing Conferences: Case CMAD 2013

The aim of this research is to explore what kinds of insights information visualization of social media data can provide for co-organizing conferences. Our paper focuses on Twitter use before, during and after conference. We present a case study based on an conference of Community Manager Appreciation Day (CMAD 2013). With the process of data-driven visual network analysis, we used Twitter data to analyse the network of conference participants and the conferences discussion topics. We were able to identify e.g. influential conference participants, most interesting presentations and discussions, similarities between interests of the conference participants. Hence, several development and information needs of conference co-organization were derived from the information visualizations, which have implications for improving the planning and co-organizing of conferences, as well as for Twitter use in conference communication.

Exploring the Role of a Country's Institutional Environment in Internationalization: Strategic Responses of SMEs in Russia

Based on the suggested five-pillar institutional framework, the study empirically investigates the impact of the institutional environment on internationalization aspirations of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies and maps their strategic responses against imposed institutional pressures. The data collected across five forest cluster SMEs in Saint Petersburg and Moscow are analyzed. Political instability, corruption, bounded cognition, over-patriotism, and high power distance act as the main constraints, while demands for new knowledge and funding are identified as the main drivers for internationalization. The classified institutional challenges are mapped against the possible strategic responses of the SMEs, such as acquiescence, compromise, avoidance, defiance, and manipulation.

The demographic antecedents and performance consequences of the social‐network structure in work teams

Purpose – Businesses are increasingly using teams as their fundamental organisational unit. This paper aims to explore the impact of demographic antecedents and the social‐network structure, measured in terms of task‐related advice‐network density, centralisation and fragmentation, on work‐team performance. The paper seeks to examine: the impact of the social‐network structure (dense, fragmented or centralised) on work‐team performance and the origins of the social structure. It also tests whether team diversity (in terms of variety with regard to gender and separation with regard to age and education) has an impact on team performance.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted on 76 work teams (499 employees) representing 48 different organisations.Findings – With regard to the first question, density was positively related to team performance. The impact of advice‐network fragmentation was also positive, and this is in line with the results of other studies focusing on teams conducting standar...

Open innovation in SMEs: Collaboration modes and strategies for commercialization in technology-intensive companies in forestry industry

Purpose This study examines how technology-intensive small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage in open innovation. The purpose of this paper is to add to the literature on open innovation in SMEs, which has received considerably less attention than open innovation in large companies. Also, the study adds on the literature on open innovation in the commercialization phase. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study of 13 technology-intensive SMEs in forestry sector was conducted. The forestry sector in Finland was chosen as a target context, there were many innovative pioneering SMEs operating in the industry and because the sector was going through significant changes. Findings Three multi-firm collaboration modes in the commercialization phase were identified: networks with a lead partner, equal partnership, and partnership for external technology commercialization. The study shows that in SMEs, open innovation is used for commercialization rather than research and development. The main conclusion of the study is that the mode of collaboration in commercialization is determined by the core competence of the firm and the strategy for open innovation. Practical implications The study results imply that SMEs benefit from opening up their innovation process in the commercialization phase. The firms in this study employed a blend of strategies that capitalized on their internal strengths. They collaborated actively with external firms and outsourced from specialists. This way they were able to compensate for their internal weaknesses and gain competitive advantage. Originality/value The study extends our understanding of open innovation by providing a detailed analysis of how open innovation takes place in the commercialization phase of innovation process. Also, the study extends understanding of the strategic use of open innovation in SMEs by showing how SMEs balance the risk of losing their competitive advantage built on innovation and the benefit of creating a broader competence base with partnerships.