Effective Use of Enterprise Social Networks for Knowledge Sharing in Organizations

Abstract

While organizations are increasingly deploying enterprise social networks (ESNs) in workplaces, many employees are wary of using ESNs to share their knowledge as they fear that they may become less valuable to their organizations. Organizations are also concerned that ESNs can be used to send valuable information to unauthorized external parties. As a result, organizations have struggled to attain the outcomes they expected from deploying ESNs. This study used data from 11 in‐depth interviews of employees from financial service organizations to find out how organizations can encourage the effective use of their ESN applications. Thematic analysis of the data showed that governance and intra‐organizational trust are critical for increasing the effective use of ESNs.