University of Tasmania
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Social media, open innovation & HRM: implications for performance

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 13:44 authored by Corral de Zubielqui, G, Fryges, H, Jones, J

Firms are increasingly leveraging social media tools to access knowledge from external actors, particularly customers and other users, to facilitate the innovation process and firm performance. Yet empirical research investigating the impact of external knowledge sourced via social media tools is scant; empirical studies that do exist are mixed, leading to calls for research into the conditions under which knowledge flows via social media from external actors contribute to innovation and firm performance. Using a large-scale survey of firms in Tasmania, Australia, this study examines how external knowledge flows from market-based actors sourced by social media influence innovation and business performance, and the extent to which modern human resource management (HRM) practices moderate this relationship. We find that while knowledge flows from marketbased actors are positively related to innovativeness, the relationship between external knowledge flows via social media and innovativeness depends on the importance a firm places on modern HRM practices: a significant positive relationship exists between knowledge sourced via social media and innovativeness when firms attach high importance to modern HRM practices. In contrast, there is no significant relationship in firms in which modern HRM practices are of low importance.

The study also shows that social media serves as a mediator for the effect of external knowledge flows on firm innovativeness when firms attach high importance to modern HRM practices. Furthermore, while the results demonstrate that innovativeness and firm performance are positively related, innovativeness does not translate into improved firm performance in firms that attach low importance to modern HRM practices. Taken together, the findings underscore the importance of modern HRM practices to enable knowledge inflows via social media to influence innovativeness, and innovativeness to translate into productivity benefits.

History

Publication title

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Volume

144

Pagination

334-347

ISSN

0040-1625

Department/School

TSBE

Publisher

Elsevier Science Inc

Place of publication

360 Park Ave South, New York, USA, Ny, 10010-1710

Rights statement

© 2017 Elsevier Inc.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Technological and organisational innovation

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC