Network Ties, Social Capital, and Knowledge Management

Abstract

As an invisible informal structure embedded within an organization, social network is closely related to the knowledge management activities and knowledge management strategies of the organization. The social network has the potential to obtain the right information or knowledge at the right time through the weak ties of the organization, to realize effective knowledge sharing in the organization with strong ties, and to commercialize knowledge using social capital to achieve economic success. By dividing the knowledge management process into three stages, including knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, and knowledge commercialization, the paper examines the role of weak ties, strong ties and social capital in knowledge management, and puts forward three hypotheses. Finally, the paper puts forward management suggestions for the construction of social networks in enterprisesю