The Blurred Boundaries of Knowledge: Organizational Learning in the Emergent Environment of Social Media

• In Event: B.E.S.T.: Organizations, Communication, and Technology

Abstract

The proliferation of social media-use by organizations provides a unique opportunity for organizational communication scholars to explore how organizations learn using communication technologies. The unique capacities of social media afford organizations to share knowledge in, across, and between organizations. The primary goal of this study is to explore the influence of social media on organizational learning practices. Using a grounded analysis approach, we conducted and analyzed 30 interviews with social media managers. The findings revealed three main themes related to organizational learning on social media: (1) creating knowledge on social media, (2) learning through collaborating with others, and (3) learning from practice and experience. The findings introduce important theoretical considerations concerning the role of communities of practice on social media and the blurred contextual boundaries for organizational learning on social media.

Authors

• Jacob Stuart Ford, University of Texas at Austin

• Stephanie Layne Dailey, Texas State U