Social networks relationships and knowledge sharing in the public sector

Lucrare de licenta despre Social networks, relationships and knowledge sharing in the public sector
This dissertation focuses on the movement of knowledge within social networks. The aim is to explore whether relationships have an impact on the knowledge sharing process. The analysis begins by presenting why knowledge is a key resource in the public sphere. Despite its critical importance, there is more to explore in order to have an integrated framework on knowledge acquisition and transfer.

This thesis presents what is known about knowledge sharing within networks and tries to fill in existing gaps in the literature by exploring how different types of relationships may support the diffusion of different types of knowledge. As knowledge sharing is a social process, the research is carried out within a social network context.

Lucrare de licenta despre Social networks relationships and knowledge sharing in the public sector

Table of contents

Summary II
Chapter 1 Introduction...............1
1.1 Background.............1
1.2 Sharing knowledge within the public system..........3
1.3 What this dissertation sets out to do and why it is important..............5
1.4 What to expect in the rest of this dissertation 6

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...............7
2.1 Introduction.............7
2.2 Social networks: key concepts.........7
2.3 Knowledge: key concepts 10
2.4 Sharing knowledge within social networks........13
2.5 Conclusions.............18

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY.............20
3.1 Introduction..............20
3.2 The research context......20
3.3 The research questions....22
3.4 The method................22
3.5 Data collection procedure...........25
3.6 Data analysis procedure.............26
3.7 Summary.............28

Chapter 4 FINDINGS.............29
4.1 Introduction...........29
4.2 Summary of findings...........29
4.3 Social networks: connected sources of knowledge.........31
4.4 Existing types of relationships within a social network......33
4.5 Relationships and knowledge: an integrated view.........36

Chapter 5 DISCUSSION............38
5.1 Introduction............38
5.2 What these findings mean...........38
5.3 On social networks: connected sources of information.......39
5.4 Existing types of relationships within a social network....40
5.5 Relationships and knowledge: an integrated view............41
5.6 Limitations and research directions..........44

Chapter 6 CONCLUSIONS..........45

Appendix 1.........48
Appendix 2.........51

Bibliography.......52