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Studying Social Software Adoption by Management Consultants: Use and Application Categories for Knowledge Management

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Innovations in Knowledge Management

Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems Reference Library ((ISRL,volume 95))

Abstract

In knowledge management, Enterprise 2.0 applications are thought to have the potential to bridge the gap between technology- and human-oriented paradigms and approaches. Thus far, however, it remains unclear how social applications are ultimately used in knowledge-intensive organizational contexts such as management consultancy. Our study addresses this gap by answering how and to what extent innovative social software applications have been used for job-related purposes. We derive use and application categories which are validated by means of qualitative interviews with management consultants from large firms in the industry, in order to build a comprehensive classification system for the professional use of social software. Stakeholders of our research include scholars and practitioners. Understanding potential redundancies can help design more effective social software suites. Moreover, understanding drivers of user acceptance may provide insights into the optimal composition of social software suites and the purposes for which these applications can be applied.

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Martensen, M., Ryschka, S., Bick, M. (2016). Studying Social Software Adoption by Management Consultants: Use and Application Categories for Knowledge Management. In: Razmerita, L., Phillips-Wren, G., Jain, L. (eds) Innovations in Knowledge Management. Intelligent Systems Reference Library, vol 95. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47827-1_5

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