Abstract
Teamwork is at the heart of most organizations today. Given increased pressures for organizations to be flexible, and adaptable, teams are organizing in novel ways, using novel technologies to be increasingly agile. One of these technologies that are increasingly used by distributed teams is Enterprise Social Media (ESM): web-based applications utilized by organizations for enabling communication and collaboration between distributed employees. ESM feature unique affordances that facilitate collaboration, including interactions that are generative: group conversations that entail the creation of innovative concepts and resolutions. These types of interactions are an important attraction for companies deciding to implement ESM. There is a unique opportunity offered for researchers in the field of HCI to study such generative interactions, as all contributions to an ESM platform are made visible, and therefore are available for analysis. Our goal in this preliminary study is to understand the nature of group generative interactions through their linguistic indicators. In this study, we utilize data from an ESM platform used by a multinational organization. Using a 1% sub sample of all logged group interactions, we apply machine-learning to classify text as generative or non-generative and extract the linguistic antecedents for the classified generative content. Our results show a promising method for investigating the linguistic indicators of generative content and provide a proof of concept for investigating group interactions in unobtrusive ways. Additionally, our results would also be able to provide an analytics tool for managers to measure the extent to which text-based tools, such as ESM, effectively nudge employees towards generative behaviors.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abernathy, W.J., Clark, K.B.: Innovation: mapping the winds of creative destruction. Res. Policy 14(1), 3–22 (1985)
Avital, M., Te’eni, D.: From generative fit to generative capacity: exploring an emerging dimension of information systems design and task performance. Inf. Syst. J. 19(4), 345–367 (2009)
Burke, M., Marlow, C., Lento, T.: Feed me: motivating newcomer contribution in social network sites. In: CHI 2009: Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 945–954 (2009)
Beck, R., Pahlke, I., Seebach, C.: Knowledge exchange and symbolic action in social media-enabled electronic networks of practice: a multilevel perspective on knowledge seekers and contributors. MIS Q. 38(4), 1245–1270 (2014)
Dunbar, K.: How scientists think: On-line creativity and conceptual change in science. In: Ward, T.N., Smith, S.M., Vaid, J. (eds.) Creative Thought. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC 461–494 (1997)
Erikson, E.H.: Childhood and Society. W.W. Norton and Company, New York (1950)
Hambrick, D.C.: Some tests of the effectiveness and functional attributes of Miles and Snow’s strategic types. Acad. Manag. J. 26(1), 5–26 (1983)
Henderson, R.M., Clark, K.B.: Architectural innovation: the reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms. Adm. Sci. Q. 35(1), 9–30 (1990)
Harvey, S.: Creative synthesis: exploring the process of extraordinary group creativity. Acad. Manag. Rev. 39(3), 324–343 (2014)
Kane, G.C.: The evolutionary implications of social media for organizational knowledge management. Inf. Organ. 27(1), 37–46 (2017)
Leonardi, P.M., Huysman, M., Steinfield, C.: Enterprise social media: definition, history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. J. Comput. Mediated Commun. 19(1), 1–19 (2013)
Leonardi, P.M.: Social media, knowledge sharing, and innovation: toward a theory of communication visibility. Inf. Syst. Res. 25(4), 796–816 (2014)
Leonardi, P.M., Vaast, E.: Social media and their affordances for organizing: a review and agenda for future research. Acad. Manag. Ann. 11(1), 150–188 (2017)
Lieberman, M.B., Montgomery, D.B.: First- mover advantages. Strateg. Manag. J. 9(1), 41–58 (1988)
Tsoukas, H.: A dialogical approach to the creation of new knowledge in organizations. Organ. Sci. 20(6), 941–957 (2009)
Van Osch, W., Avital, M.: Generative Collectives. In: ICIS 2010 Proceedings (2010). http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2010_submissions/175
Van Osch, W.: Generative Collectives. Ipskamp Publishers, Netherlands (2012)
Van Osch, W., Steinfield, C.W.: Boundary spanning through enterprise social software: an external stakeholder perspective. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Milan, Italy (2013)
Van Osch, W.: The business side of social media. Int. Innov. 195, 27–29 (2015)
Van Osch, W., Steinfield, C.W.: Strategic visibility in enterprise social media: implications for network formation and boundary spanning. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 35(2), 647–682 (2018)
Webster, M.: Generativity. In: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2009)
Wisniewski, E.J.: When concepts combine. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 4(2), 167–183 (1997)
Acknowledgement
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1749018. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations ex- pressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Averkiadi, E., Van Osch, W., Liang, Y. (2020). Investigating Linguistic Indicators of Generative Content in Enterprise Social Media. In: Nah, FH., Siau, K. (eds) HCI in Business, Government and Organizations. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12204. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50341-3_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50341-3_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-50340-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-50341-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)