How do social network sites support product users’ knowledge construction? A study of LinkedIn

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2017-0133
Date11 June 2018
Pages304-323
Published date11 June 2018
AuthorXuguang Li,Andrew Cox,Zefeng Wang
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management
How do social network sites
support product usersknowledge
construction? A study of LinkedIn
Xuguang Li
Department of Information Management School, Central China Normal University,
Wuhan, China
Andrew Cox
Information School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, and
Zefeng Wang
Shenzhen Energy Group Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, China
Abstract
Purpose Social network sites are emerging as a popular communication tool for knowledge sharing and
construction. LinkedIn, which concentrates on professional networking, is reported to generate great
informational benefits to its users. The purpose of this paper is to explore product usersknowledge
construction in solving technical problems on LinkedIn, which was chosen as a case example.
Design/methodology/approach Discussion threads with rich knowledge elements were selected from an
interest group about solving technical problems with laptops. Adopting a qualitative content analysis
method, selected threads were analysed with a prior analysis framework built in the context of traditional IT
company sponsored peer user support forums.
Findings The analysis revealed that the iterative and progressive knowledge construction process and
associated trial-and-error strategy used on LinkedIn are similar to those found in peer support forums.
However, LinkedIn members are more engaged in knowledge construction episodes. Meanwhile, the
sub-category proposing a new ideaaccounts for a larger portion of discussions reflecting the high-level of
expertise. One-to-one direct interaction is quite salient. Therefore, LinkedIn can support knowledge
construction in a more efficient way due to the character of its social capital, including trust, sense of
belonging, norms of cooperation, visible identity, knowledge articulation skills, one-to-one direct interaction
and suitable strength of ties.
Originality/value This research is novel in empirically revealing how LinkedIn attributes and its social
capital attributes interact with each other and together facilitate an efficient knowledge construction process.
Keywords Social capital, LinkedIn, Social network sites, Knowledge construction, Product users
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Since the arrival of Web 2.0, featuring strong social features (Matthews and Stephens,
2010), social network sites (SNSs) have risen rapidly in popularity as new technical
platforms attracting millions of users. The associated social network perspective
recognises that networks consisting of individuals, groups and organisations promote
access to markets, technology, influence or knowledge (Inkpen and Tsang, 2005;
Hohenthal et al.,2014).Kietzmannet al. (2011) developed a framework which defines SNS
through a range of functions: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships,
reputation and groups. However, not all SNSs have all these functions. Rather, different
sites emphasise different things. For instance, Facebook focuses on relationships and
groups, while Twitter concentrates upon sharing information. LinkedIn has a clear focus
on professional issues, such as job search, professional networking and continuing
Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 3, 2018
pp. 304-323
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-04-2017-0133
Received 27 April 2017
Revised 30 September 2017
Accepted 3 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
The paper is funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71663038),
National Social Science Foundation of China (Nos 13 and ZD183), and the Fundamental Research
Funds for the Central Universities (231-20205170253).
304
OIR
42,3
professional development (Papacharissi, 2009). Such functions of LinkedIn can be the key
to share and construct knowledge (Syn and Oh, 2015). Verburg and Andriessen (2011)
echoed many authors (e.g. Nieto and Santamaria, 2007; Laursen and Salter, 2006) in
suggesting that knowledge is the foundation for innovation and product improvement.
However, SNSsimportant use for creating innovative knowledge has not yet been fully
explored by researchers. While the overwhelming majority of SNS research concentrates
on Facebook, LinkedIn is reported to create the largest informational benefits by its users
(Utz, 2016). Therefore, Utz (2016) suggested that researchers should pay more attention to
the knowledge aspects of LinkedIn.
Regarding knowledge behaviours, SNSs have been considered to greatly influence
knowledge-sharing behaviours among organisational members (Chow and Chan, 2008;
Ellison et al., 2015). Many researchers have speculated on the use of SNSs for knowledge
sharing in IT companies (Ellison et al., 2015; DiMicco et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2010). A few
researchers have explored organisational employees creating new knowledge in the
workplace through using SNSs or enterprise SNSs (Cross et al., 2001; Nieves and Osorio,
2013; Yamamoto and Kanbe, 2008). Although the influence of social capital on creating new
knowledge on SNSs has been highlighted (Casanueva and Gallego, 2010; Magnier-Watanabe
et al., 2010), it is still not fully understood how people in certain networks construct
knowledge on SNSs at a detailed level.
Users can provide valuable innovative knowledge for product development and
marketing strategies (Wurster and Evans, 1997; Mahr et al., 2014; Cui and Wu, 2016;
Bretschneider et al., 2015). From product users as a knowledge resource, producers are able
to gain knowledge on product usage and applications, and discover design defects
and improve product design from user group interactions (Anderson, 2005; Chatterji and
Fabrizio (2014). On traditional company sponsored technical support forums, product users
can collaboratively construct new knowledge to solve complex technical problems through
participation from varying members with all sorts of knowledge levels (Li et al., 2017). As for
the platform of SNSs, it is widely accepted that SNSs provide a way for users to access new
knowledge (Nieves and Osorio, 2013; Syn and Oh, 2015), it is also of theoretical interest to
explore whether product users on SNSs can create new knowledge, and how this works.
Nevertheless, there are very few empirical studies on product usersknowledge
construction behaviours on SNSs. Therefore, there is value in exploring empirically how
knowledge is constructed there by product users at a fine-grained level. This study seeks to
do this, using LinkedIn, which is less examined, as an example, exploring the knowledge
construction embedded within IT product usersdiscussions about solving technical
problems without ready answers. It also investigates the impact of SNS functionality on
knowledge construction behaviours.
The paper is laid out as follows: in the literature review section, it briefly examines the
relationship between SNSs and knowledge construction. Then, from the social capital
perspective, it reviews the influences of the three dimensions of SNSssocial capital
(i.e. structural dimension, relationship dimension and cognitive dimension), on knowledge
construction. Section 3 explains why the case example of LinkedIn was chosen, and then
introduces how the empirical data about knowledge construction were collected and
analysed. Section 4 presents the findings about a content analysis framework for
exploring knowledge construction by product users and an associated process model of
knowledge construction, which are developed in the context of traditional technical
support forums. Section 5 presents the knowledge construction patterns of product users
on LinkedIn, which are in general similar to that on traditional technical support forums.
Then it describes the unique features related to knowledge construction on LinkedIn:
active engagement in knowledge construction and direct one-to-one interaction. Section 6
describes the high efficiency of knowledge construction on LinkedIn, and explains the
305
Product users
knowledge
construction

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