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Transparency—the observability of activities, behaviors, and performance—is often treated as a panaceafor modern management. Yet there is a conundrum in the literature, with some studies suggesting thattransparency may benefit group creativity and others suggesting that privacy may do so. A similarconundrum exists regarding the effects of different social capital types—structural holes vs. networkcohesion—on group creativity. Enterprise social media (ESM) provide a unique opportunity to solve theseconundrums by allowing groups to be “transparent” (non-group members can observe and/or participatein group activities) or “private” (group members and activities are hidden from the community) andenabling groups to develop distinct social capital structures. Using data from 28,083 written interactionsproduced by 109 transparent and 106 private groups in an ESM of a multinational design firm, we foundstrong support for our contingency hypotheses that both transparent and private groups may produce highlevels of creative dialogues, yet in different forms. Specifically, expansion-focused creative dialogues—those focused on combining or expanding existing concepts—emerge in transparent groups, but onlywhen the group’s social capital is characterized by structural holes. Conversely, we found that reframingfocused dialogues—those focused on challenging and rethinking—emerge in private groups but onlywhen the group’s social capital is characterized by network cohesion. Theoretically, these findings canhelp to solve the conundrums in the literature on group creativity and shed light on the role of ESM usein this context. Practically, our findings offer a critical reflection o contemporary initiatives for increasingtransparency, whether through physical design or digital transformation.
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Voice as a Signal of Human and Social Capital in Team Assembly Decisions
Team membership in today’s open talent economy is more fluid and interchangeable than ever before. In light of these dynamics, we consider how team members’ signaling of human and social capital, in the form of challenging or supportive voice, informs our understanding of how individuals across an organizational network self-assemble into temporary work teams. We test our hypotheses in two separate multiwave studies and find support for our hypotheses above and beyond the effects of homophily. In Study 1, we find support for a human capital pathway in which challenging voice in a team fosters perceptions of quality work that enhance one’s personal reputation in the broader network. Personal reputation, in turn, predicts team assembly decisions. In Study 2, we consider a social capital pathway alongside the human capital pathway. We find that supportive voice in a team fosters friendship that enhances the extent to which one is trusted in the broader network, and trust subsequently influences team assembly decisions. Potential team members appear to prioritize the social capital signaled by supportive voice more so than the human capital signaled by challenging voice, although those who possess both human and social capital are also highly sought during team formation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literatures on voice and team assembly.
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- PAR ID:
- 10321340
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Management
- ISSN:
- 0149-2063
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063211031303
