Are you getting full benefits from the use of Social Media? A review combining the concepts of Social Media, Social Capital and Knowledge Sharing

Você obtem todos os benefícios do uso das Mídias Sociais ? Uma revisão de literatura combinando os conceitos de Mídias Sociais, Capital Social e Compartilhamento do Conhecimento

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

The social media have become powerful tools that can be used to do much more than connecting relatives and friends, helping find a job or providing advertising space. This study aims to present the benefits of combining the subjects related to Knowledge Sharing, Social Media and Social Capital theory.

Design/methodology/approach:

Literature review of 22 papers identified as relevant when combining the subjects Social Media, Social Capital and Knowledge Sharing. The 22 documents were subjected of content analysis.

Findings:

The analysis of the literature revealed two fundamental roles for social media within organizations - an operational role - working as a channel or tool; a transformative role - used to support organizational strategy.

Research limitations/implications:

The limitation of this study is related to the limited number of papers that resulted from the search.

Practical implications:

The benefits of combining the three subjects include improvements on informal communication, better collaboration and cooperation, and a positive influence on job performance and innovation.

Originality/value:

The proposed research agenda highlights the importance of future investigations into the sharing of tacit knowledge through Social Media; focusing on how to generate trust via Social Media and suggests research attention related to knowledge protection.

Keywords:
knowledge sharing; social media; social capital; tacit knowledge; trust