Enterprise Social Networking Sites and Knowledge Sharing Intentions in Virtual Teams

The use of virtual teams have become an essential component for successful organizations competing in the global marketplace. Virtual teams are formed to leverage various expertise throughout the organization, yet a challenge facing these teams is knowledge sharing. This is often due to the lack of trust and reciprocity which is traditionally formed during initial face-to-face interactions. The current research explores how the use of an Enterprise Social Networks (ESN) acts as an alternative to FtF interactions allowing individuals to form perceptions of future team members without meeting. Through the use of the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this study proposes exploring the formation of social capital perceptions through the use of ESN profiles. These perceptions are then evaluated to understand their impact on knowledge sharing intention within the team. The goal of this research is to understand how an ESN can help alleviate issues surrounding knowledge sharing in virtual teams.