Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Marguerite Cronk
There appears to be a consensus that both types <strong>of</strong> knowledge creation involve making new
combinations ei<strong>the</strong>r by combining elements previously unconnected or by developing novel ways <strong>of</strong>
combining elements previously associated. This is exactly what <strong>the</strong> connectivists believe about <strong>the</strong>
potential <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> web 2 social network. That through an extensive network <strong>of</strong> connections/ties
knowledge is distributed, remixed and added back to <strong>the</strong> network in a cyclical fashion as people from
diverse back grounds, cultures, disciplines and experiences recombine it with <strong>the</strong>ir existing knowledge
base and return it to <strong>the</strong> network. New knowledge creation is said to be created through this process
and empowered by social interaction and coactivity. The main <strong>the</strong>sis being presented here is that
social capital facilitates <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital by affecting <strong>the</strong> conditions necessary
for exchange and combination to occur.
3. Model building
From <strong>the</strong> literature above it is proposed that social capital is <strong>the</strong> potential that exists across a social
network. “In a similar fashion, Verhagen, (2006) when speaking <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> connectivist view <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> social
web, sees this potential “as using knowledge that you do not have at <strong>the</strong> ready, whose existence and
usefulness you are aware <strong>of</strong> and to which you also have access”. The amount <strong>of</strong> social capital is
dependent on <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> connections (connectivism) to deliver <strong>the</strong> potential and <strong>the</strong> quality or
nature <strong>of</strong> those connections. Strong connections will deliver bonding social capital and weak
connections tend to deliver bridging social capital which can <strong>the</strong>n in turn through more frequent
connection and value gained from those connections, become bonding social capital. Bonding social
capital is a higher level <strong>of</strong> social capital and delivers greater value because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trust element
involved. Intellectual capital has elements <strong>of</strong> potential also in <strong>the</strong> knowledge capability aspect. It is
more focused on knowledge sharing and exchange and <strong>the</strong> outcome is new knowledge. Intellectual
capital may develop using <strong>the</strong> same pathways as social capital and to some extent <strong>the</strong> same
dynamics. Knowledge is shared through <strong>the</strong> social connections. Thus, <strong>the</strong> better <strong>the</strong> social
connections <strong>the</strong> greater <strong>the</strong> potential for knowledge sharing is. The connectivisits would add, <strong>the</strong> more
extensive and diverse <strong>the</strong> network <strong>the</strong> greater <strong>the</strong> possibility for new knowledge creation sharing and
ultimately intellectual capital.
Moran and Ghoshal (1996) propose a mechanism for <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital from
social capital via information benefits. These benefits can be amplified via web 2 technologies.
Information benefits occur in three forms: access, timing, and referrals.
"Timing" <strong>of</strong> information flows refers to <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> personal contacts to provide information sooner
than it becomes available to people without such contacts. "Referrals" are those processes providing
information on available opportunities to people or actors in <strong>the</strong> network, hence influencing <strong>the</strong>
opportunity to combine and exchange knowledge frequently include reputational endorsement for <strong>the</strong>
actors involved (such as happens in web 2 technologies through rating systems)-<strong>the</strong>reby influencing
both <strong>the</strong> anticipated value <strong>of</strong> combination and exchange and <strong>the</strong> motivation for such exchange (see
Granovetter, 1973, and Putnam, 1993). Much <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> evidence for <strong>the</strong> relationship between social
capital and intellectual capital highlights <strong>the</strong> significance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> relational dimension <strong>of</strong> social capital.
Figure 4 below shows knowledge sharing as <strong>the</strong> pivotal element that increases and creates social
capital (cause and effect ,see Resnick, 2001; Williams, 2006) It also plays a similar role in <strong>the</strong>
creation <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital. It is also <strong>the</strong> process that links social capital with intellectual capital
facilitating <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> new knowledge through exchange and recombination, driven by <strong>the</strong> ties <strong>of</strong>
social capital. The entire process has been enabled by <strong>the</strong> web 2 technologies.
4. Conclusion and suggestions for fur<strong>the</strong>r research
It is generally accepted that <strong>the</strong> capacity <strong>of</strong> an organization to innovate lies in its capacity to generate
new knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka, Toyama and Byosière, 2003). For this to be
possible, knowledge sharing is considered a necessary condition (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995;
Nonaka, von Krogh and Voelpel, 2006). It is suggested that Web 2 tools facilitate <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong>
social capital through knowledge sharing which in turn increases <strong>the</strong> potential to create intellectual
capital. Web 2 is an important piece in this equation because it reinforces <strong>the</strong> notion that ‘my
connections help me’ as it provides <strong>the</strong> means by which more connections can be made as well as
facilitating <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> social capital which in turn stimulates more sharing. It is suggested
that organizations consider how <strong>the</strong>y might use web 2 technologies to tap into <strong>the</strong> power <strong>of</strong> social
capital driven knowledge sharing.
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