Social Media and the impact of business hierarchy on knowledge sharing within an organization: Case of SoftX.

Abstract: In a rapidly growing global economy businesses must effectively manage their assets to remain competitive and promote company growth. Many companies are only now beginning to realize that employee knowledge is a valuable asset to their business and also needs to be managed. Organizations are exploring different ways to improve the sharing of knowledge within a business and how to keep employee’s with key knowledge within the business. This study investigates social media and the impact of business hierarchy on knowledge sharing within an organization. The use of social media, in our particular case, wikis, within an organization is investigated as part of the broader term Enterprise 2.0. This study is based on the theoretical understanding of wikis as tools that enable internalization, externalization and objectification of knowledge. This study investigates what may be the contributing factors that affect an employee’s use of a centralized wiki for knowledge sharing. This study focuses on the employees of a British software development and training company, SoftX, and used a mixed method research strategy based on the use of online surveys and face-to-face interviews. We used an online tool, SurveyMonkey, to register and correlate responses to our survey. In total, 99 responses were received and semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with five employees.   Correlations were used in establishing foundation for the analysis of the variables. Finally, the causality between the assumed factors affecting the use of the SoftX wiki is tested using multiple linear regression analysis. Several important factors presented themselves as a result of our study at SoftX which could explain the apparent lack of use of their wiki as a means of knowledge sharing within the business. The analysis demonstrates that the use of the SoftX's wiki by employees was influenced by organizational, personal and technological factors.