Harnessing Social Media Collaborative Intelligence to Champion Enterprise Innovation Advisor: Irene Petrick, Ph.D
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Information Sciences and Technology HARNESSING SOCIAL MEDIA COLLABORATIVE INTELLIGENCE TO CHAMPION ENTERPRISE INNOVATION A Dissertation in Information Sciences and Technology by Suwan Juntiwasarakij © 2012 Suwan Juntiwasarakij Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2012 The dissertation of Suwan Juntiwasarakij was reviewed and approved* by the following: Irene J. Petrick Senior Lecturer of Information Sciences and Technology Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Heng Xu Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology Scarlett Miller Assistant Professor of Engineering Affiliated Faculty of Information Sciences and Technology Sam Hunter Assistant Professor of Psychology Marry Beth Rosson Director of Graduate Programs of Information Sciences and Technology *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ii ABSTRACT Innovation is a survival tool for the corporate world to play in the ever competitive free global market in the 21st century. The innovation process, especially at the front end, is the most challenging phase because of the inextricably intertwined fuzziness of high uncertainty and the deficiency of information available. Although the uncertainty is irremovable, the input of the information can be improved by motivating people to generate more ideas. In this regard, social media presents unprecedented opportunities for a company to internally improve information processing at the front end of innovation. However, unlike legacy software systems which are built to last, harnessing the power of social media requires committed effort since social media is built to change. This dissertation focuses on the governance and architecture necessary to go beyond the pilot project state. Drawn from two large, multinational companies’ social media platform systems, the findings show that the implementation of successful, sustainable enterprise social media platforms recognizes emerging socio-psychological layers comprised of social capital formation, organic arrangement, vernacular collaboration protocol, and elastic governance. This research provides a framework for enterprise social media in support of innovation and offers practical recommendations for users, designers, managers, executives, enterprises, and prospective adopters. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables.........................................................................................................................x Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1. Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Sustainable Implementation........................................................................................... 4 1.2. Dissertation Organization .............................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2. Literature Review................................................................................................ 8 2.1. Innovation in Organizational Context ............................................................................ 8 2.1.1. Innovation and Organizational Culture .......................................................... 9 2.1.2. Innovation and Organizational Performance .................................................10 2.2. Complexity at the Front End of Innovation ...................................................................11 2.2.1. Complexity Portrayal of the Front End .........................................................12 2.2.2. Managing the Fuzziness at the Front End......................................................13 2.2.2.1.Process-Oriented Approaches .................................................................15 2.2.2.2.Apprehending Emergent Behaviors.........................................................16 2.3. Importance of Information Technology on Innovation Process......................................17 2.4. Social Media Software Facilitating Innovation..............................................................19 2.4.1. Social Media at Large...................................................................................20 2.4.1.1.Web 2.0..................................................................................................20 2.4.1.2.Social Software.......................................................................................21 2.4.2. Social Media, the Crowd, and the Intelligence ..............................................22 2.4.2.1.Wisdom of the Crowd.............................................................................22 2.4.2.2.Social Media for Collective Intelligence .................................................23 2.4.3. Social Media in Use for Innovation ..............................................................24 2.4.4. Web 2.0 Cultures and Information Security Practice and Policy....................26 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) 2.5. Theoretical Orientation.................................................................................................28 2.5.1. Complexity Adaptive System .......................................................................30 2.5.1.1.Organization as Complex Adaptive System ...........................................30 2.5.1.2.Innovation as Complexity .......................................................................31 2.5.2. Social Capital Theory...................................................................................34 2.5.2.1.Institutional-Based Trust.........................................................................36 2.5.2.2.Trust on the Absence of Face-to-Face Communication ...........................37 2.5.3. Creativity and Innovation ............................................................................37 2.5.3.1.The Notions and the Relation..................................................................38 2.5.3.2.The Factors Influencing Innovation.........................................................39 2.5.4. Knowledge Management Theories................................................................41 2.5.4.1.Contemporary Organizational KM Research...........................................41 2.5.4.2.Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Transformation........................................43 2.5.4.3.Managing Knowledge with Social Media Software.................................44 2.5.5. Socio-Technical System (STS) .....................................................................45 2.6. Chapter Summary.........................................................................................................46 Chapter 3. Research Design.................................................................................................47 3.1. Research Background and Motivation...........................................................................47 3.2. Research Objectives and Questions...............................................................................49 3.3. Interpretative Epistemology..........................................................................................51 3.4. Research Methods and Instruments...............................................................................52 3.4.1. Qualitative Interview ....................................................................................53 3.4.1.1. Interview Question Model......................................................................53 3.4.1.2. Interview Procedure...............................................................................55 3.4.2. Case Study ...................................................................................................55 v TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) 3.4.3. Data Collection.............................................................................................56 3.4.3.1. Study Phases..........................................................................................56 3.4.3.2. Document Review .................................................................................57 3.4.3.3. Interview ...............................................................................................57 3.4.4. Data Analysis ...............................................................................................58 3.4.4.1. Initial Research Framework ...................................................................58 3.4.4.2. Data Analysis Procedure........................................................................61 3.4.5. Research Evaluation Criteria ........................................................................63 3.5. Chapter Summary.........................................................................................................64 Chapter 4. Case Study Introduction .....................................................................................65 4.1. Global Engineering Solution (GES)..............................................................................65 4.2. Universal Business Sourcing (UBS)..............................................................................66 4.3. Adoption Enhancer .......................................................................................................68 4.4. Operational Context