A Framework for implementing Knowledge Network using Social Network Analysis

  • Hwang, Hyun-Seok (Dept. of Business Administration, Hallym University) ;
  • Kim, Su-Yeon (School of Computer and Information Technology, Daegu University)
  • Published : 2005.11.25

Abstract

Recently research interest in Knowledge Management (KM) has grown rapidly. Companies regard intellectual capital as important asset and strive to deploy KM in an organization to gain a competitive edge. Many organizations currently engage in knowledge management in order to leverage knowledge both within their organization and externally to their shareholders and customers. Most of the previous research related to KM are dedicated to investigate the role of information technology in extracting, capturing, sharing, coverting organizational knowledge. Knowledge workers, however, are paid less attention though they are the key players in KM activities such as knowledge creation, dissemination, capture and conversion. We regard knowledge workers as a major component of KM and starting point of understanding organizational knowledge activities. Therefore we adopt a method to understand and analyze knowldge workers' social relationships. In this paper we investigate Social Network Analysis (SNA) as a tool for analyzing knowledge network. We introduce the basic concept of SNA and suggest a framework for implementing knowledge network by explaining how SNA can be used for analyzing knowledge network. We also propose a numerical method for identifying knowledge workers using SNA after classifying knowledge workers. The suggested method is expected to help understanding key knowledge players within an organization.

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