Intergroup bridging dynamics affecting organizational knowledge sharing over time

This paper investigates the social structure between online groups within an Enterprise Social Network (ESN). We analyze the nature and composition of bridges between groups over time and how they affect the intergroup network. We perform regression analyses of data generated by an ESN within a Dutch youth-care organization. We find that the intergroup network develops small world characteristics and suggest that this will foster organizational knowledge sharing. We follow development of bridges and their composition week after week over a period of five years. We show the relative importance of so-called flexible bridging members who recurrently bridge the same groups over time. The importance of relatively more flexible compared to stable bridging
members changes over time, so that flexible bridging members are more important in earlier stages of the ESN adoption lifecycle, and stable bridging members at later stages. Further, we show that there is a difference in how early adopters versus late adopters are active on the bridges and how this bridging behavior develops over time. Our findings are enhanced by interview data with bridging members. This study contributes to the understanding of brokerage dynamics by zooming in on how the intergroup network changes over time due to stable and flexible bridges, and we suggest that this affects organizational knowledge sharing over time.