Social Capital, Knowledge Sharing and Intellectual Capital in the Web 2 Enabled World

Web 2 technologies have facilitated an unprecedented era of social knowledge sharing. Many businesses are examining how they can tap into this phenomenon to enhance knowledge sharing within the organization. This study explores links between social capitol created through online social network knowledge sharing and Intellectual capitol. It is suggested that within the organizational context, intellectual capitol can be generated from social capitol through knowledge sharing, facilitated by web 2 technologies. The benefits of web 2 technologies in the area of knowledge sharing are well documented, however this study suggests that web 2 technologies not only provide the platform to share but also the motivation to share as participants gain and benefit from increased social capitol, which may in turn overcome perceptions of 'loss of personal competitive advantage' concerns associated with traditional knowledge sharing.