Expanding organisational knowledge online: the role of bridging members in knowledge expansion in online groups

In this paper we hypothesise about the role of bridging members – people who connect otherwise unconnected online groups – on an enterprise social network (ESN) and in what manner their role affects their group’s knowledge expansion. Analysing data from an ESN of a Dutch health insurance company, we show how online groups can benefit from their bridging members who take advantage of the affordances of the digital platform. We find that a larger proportion of bridging members within a group mitigates the decrease in knowledge expansion over time. This research contributes to the literature on online knowledge sharing and social networks by showing the effect of bridging members on knowledge expansion in a digital environment. Our study has implications for organisations who want to leverage knowledge sharing for innovation.