Gender differences in usage motivation for social networks at work

Abstract

In times of demographic change, skill shortage, and disruptive innovations, organizational knowledge and innovative capacity are the key to a company’s success. But how can knowledge be retained with fast staff-turnover, global project-based work and parental leaves? Using social networking sites to improve knowledge dissemination at work seems promising, when looking at the success of private social networking sites. In this article we investigate how user diversity influences the motivation to use such a site at work. We conducted a survey in a company that successfully implements social networking for knowledge dissemination (n=50) and analyzed differences in usage motivation using multiple linear regression analysis. Among other effects, we found that women use such a system because of a stronger need for social interaction and information. From our findings we derive practical implications for designing a social networking site for work.