Electronics networks and knowledge sharing: establishing links within organizations

Electronic networks of practice are increasingly important mechanisms to support knowledge sharing inside organizations. Despite the widespread adoption of these tools, little is known about the factors that influence the formation of ties between individuals in these networks. Drawing on social network theory, this paper seeks to extend understanding of how knowledge shapes the formation of ties between individuals in networks. Using a novel dataset derived from a leading engineering consultancy, we demonstrate that tie formation in electronic networks is a product of knowledge proximity, however too much proximity can have an adverse effect on the probability of knowledge sharing. We explore the implications of these findings for theory and for practice.

About Ammon Salter

Dr Ammon Salter is a Reader in Innovation and Technology Management at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London. After finishing his doctorate in 1999 he worked at Science Policy Research Unit at the Universtiy of Sussex on a number of projects for HM Treasury, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Ove Arup Foundation as well as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), including the Complex Products and Systems Centre (CoPS). He has published over 20 refereed journal articles and two books, including the recently published "Think, Play, Do: Technology, Innovation, and Organization". Dr Salter's main research interest is the management of technological innovation. In particular, he studies the sources and determinants of innovative performance and university-industry collaboration. He has also investigated the innovation process in engineering consultancies. He was awarded an Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) Ghoshal Research Fellowship in 2005. He is also currently working on two EPSRC-funded research projects with Paola Criscuolo and Toke Reichstein. One of these projects focuses on the evolution of networks and capabilities in engineering organisations (in collaboration with Arup and Atkins) and the other explores the impact on innovation on business performance. He is also collaborating with Mark Dodgson and David Gann on a revised version of The Management of Technological Innovation with Oxford University Press, scheduled for publication in 2007.