Social capital, employees' well-being and knowledge sharing: does enterprise social networks use matter? Case of Tunisian knowledge-intensive firms
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-01-2020-0012 |
| Pages | 1153-1183 |
| Published date | 06 June 2020 |
| Date | 06 June 2020 |
| Author | Sarra Berraies,Rym Lajili,Rached Chtioui |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & Finance,Accounting/accountancy,Information & knowledge management,Organizational structure/dynamics |
Social capital, employees’
well-being and knowledge sharing:
does enterprise social networks
use matter? Case of Tunisian
knowledge-intensive firms
Sarra Berraies
College of Business Administration, University of Bahrain, Sakheer, Bahrain and
Laboratory ARBRE, Higher Institute of Management of Tunis,
University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
Rym Lajili
Laboratory ARBRE, Higher Institute of Management of Tunis,
University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia, and
Rached Chtioui
Higher School of Economic and Commercial Sciences, ESSECT,
Research Unit Methods Marketing, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
Abstract
Purpose –The objective of this research is to examine the mediating role of employees’well-being in the
workplace in the relationship between the dimensions of social capital, namely structural, relational and
cognitive social capital and knowledge sharing, as well as the moderating role of enterprise social networks
between knowledge sharing and employees’well-being.
Design/methodology/approach –A quantitative approach was performed within a sample of 168 middle
managers working in knowledge-intensive firms in Tunisia. The Partial Least Squares method was used to
analyze the data collected.
Findings –Results highlight the importance of the dimensions of social capital as a lever for boosting
knowledge sharing. It also reveals that employees’well-being plays a mediating role in the link between
structural and relational social capital and knowledge sharing. Moreover, findings show that while enterprise
social networks use does not moderate therelationship between employees’well-being and knowledge sharing,
it has a positive and significant effect on knowledge sharing.
Originality/value –On the basis of a socio-technical perspective of knowledge management, this research
pioneers the examination of the mediating effect of employees’well-being in the link between dimensions of
social capital and knowledge sharing and the moderating role of enterprise social networks use within
knowledge-intensive firms. Findings of this study may help managers of knowledge-intensive firms
in boosting knowledge sharing within organizations, in improving knowledge workers’well-being and thus in
motivating and retaining these talented employees.
Keywords Social capital, Eudaimonic well-being, Hedonic well-being, Knowledge sharing, Enterprise social
networks, Knowledge-intensive firms
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
In today’s knowledge and digital economy, firms must develop their agility, innovation
capability and competitive advantage. To achieve these objectives, in the perspective of the
resource-based view and dynamic capability approaches, they must develop non-imitable,
rare and valuable resources. An effective knowledge management strategy and systems have
become critical to improve firms’ability to constantly create, transfer and use knowledge.
Does enterprise
social
networks use
matter?
1153
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1469-1930.htm
Received 21 January 2020
Revised 4 April 2020
Accepted 9 May 2020
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 21 No. 6, 2020
pp. 1153-1183
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-01-2020-0012
Most scholars agree that knowledge represent a key factor that allows firms to differentiate
from competitors (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Knowledge is socially constructed and its
value rises when it is shared (Kim et al., 2013). Thus, the most successful companies are those
capable to boost knowledge sharing (KS) within organizations and to absorb valuable
knowledge from its environment (Berraies, 2019b). KS refers to a process of collecting and
donating of explicit and tacit knowledge (Al-Husseini and Elbeltagi, 2018). Often, employees
consider that when they share their knowledge, this may make them vulnerable, weaken their
power or corporate position within firms and affect negatively their job security (Riege, 2005).
The challenge for managers is thus to reassure employees regarding the fear of sharing their
knowledge and to shape a collaborative context in which employees can donate and collect
knowledge to make it accessible within the whole organization. Mansour et al. (2014) have
noted that Tunisian managers are resistant to share their knowledge due to their fear of
uncertainty and risk aversion.
From this view, identifying the factors that may increase KS within organizations is a key
issue that has received generous attention. Researchers have investigated several
antecedents of KS such as styles of leadership, organizational structure and employees’
empowerment (Berraies and Zine El Abidine, 2019;Berraies et al., 2020). Specifically, this
research deals with a socio-technical perspective of knowledge management and defends the
idea that social and technological aspects are predictors of KS. As noted by Nonaka and
Takeuchi (1995), a suitable organizational context is a critical factor for boosting knowledge
creation and sharing.
Regarding social aspects, prior studies identified social capital (SC) as a central variable
improving KS (Aslam et al., 2013;Allameh, 2018). SC covers structural, relational and
cognitive aspects including strong social relationships, mutual understandings, shared
values and goals, friendship and trust that “act as vehicles of advantage to leverage valuable
resources embedded in relational ties”(Ganguly et al., 2019). It builds a social foundation
fostering collective intelligence and creating a sense of cohesion that nurture the knowledge
base of the firms and help employees to have access to valuable knowledge and execute their
tasks successfully (Allameh, 2018).
Although the relationship between SC and KS is well documented, empirical studies
investigating the effect of the dimensions of SC namely structural, relational and cognitive SC
on KS are scant. The majority of previous studies focused on SC as a second-order construct,
however it is important to examine the contribution of each dimension of SC on KS in order to
grant more valuable information.
In this regard, the few studies that have examined the links between dimensions of SC and
KS have been carried out within Central and East Asian countries. This research aims to fill
the gap in the literature by examining these relationships in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) region and in particular in Tunisia, as no studies have been performed within this
context. Tunisian culture is a collectivistic society, which may have a significant effect on
employees’attitudes towards KS (Ma et al., 2014).
Besides, a fertile area that can be explored is to integrate mediating or moderator variables
to understand in depth these relationships. In particular, this study was designed to highlight
the effect of the dimensions of SC as predictors of KS within organizations, whereby
investigating the mediating role of employees’well-being in these relationships. Especially,
the effect of employees’well-being on KS has received limited attention. In the perspective of
the research of Warr (2007), organizational context features and especially SC act as vitamins
nurturing hedonic and eudaimonic employees’well-being, which in turn may create a
supportive environment in which employees are more willing to share their knowledge with
others. Happy employees “are known to be more satisfied with their work, more creative, less
inclined to quit, and exhibit better in-role and extra-role performance”(Joo et al., 2016). In this
line, the idea outlined in this research is that SC may play a key role in nurturing employees’
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