UH Manoa1 Blogs as Trust-Builders in Organizations “In Blogs We Trust” Daniel C. Smith April 29, 2006 Presentation for Awards for College Scientists Foundation

UH Manoa2 Blogs: New, Easy-to-Use Medium Arguably a new, “participatory medium” (Blood 2004) The essential elements are social, not technical – sociability, linking, authenticity Technology however facilitates desirable social interactions: social networking, easy posting & commenting, linking & back- tracking, and RSS feeds to inform communities of interest

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5 Beyond Journals & Marketing Building relationships Sharing knowledge Seeking help Fostering a climate

UH Manoa6 Research Objectives Gather systematic data on the extent, purposes and policies about blogging (or not) in firms Assess the impact of organizational climate on blogging in firms, and vice versa Assess the impact of trust, in its multiple forms, on blogging, and vice versa Add blogging to models of organizational climate and positive outcomes.

UH Manoa7 Organizational Climate The concrete expression of organizational culture Multi-dimensional Some examples: Fairness, Affiliation. Innovativeness, Attitude toward knowledge sharing, Anticipated reciprocal relationships, Subjective norm to share knowledge, etc.

UH Manoa8 Organizational Culture Organizational Climate Organizational Outcomes Organizational Culture and Climate as Resources of the Firm Knowledge Management (KM) is a Common Goal... To which Blogging can contribute... Organizational climate dimensions have been linked to productivity gains. (Patterson, Warr & West, 2004)

UH Manoa9 Trust Multi-dimensional and can cross levels of analysis. Involves risk Fukuyama (1995): “... the expectation that arises within a community of regular, honest and cooperative behavior based on commonly shared norms on the part of members of the community”

UH Manoa10 Trust Fukuyama considers trust more important than financial or physical capital. Allows delegation and interdependence Trust has recently grown in research importance due to the Web and e-commerce. Not a free resource – requires resources to maintain in firms (Houtari & Iivonen, 2004) Key concept is spontaneous sociability

UH Manoa11 Ability Benevolence Integrity Trust Outcomes Risk Taking in Relationship Perceived Risk Trustor’s Propensity Factors of Perceived Trustworthiness Mayer, Davis & Schoorman Model (1995)

UH Manoa12 The Many Faces of Trust Dispositional trust from Psychology & Economics (General trust in others) Institutional Trust from Sociology (Trust in the structures/organizational climate) Interpersonal Trust from Social Psychology (Trust in specific others / situations, e.g. bloggers?) (Following McKnight & Chervany (2002)

UH Manoa13 Climate as Enabler of KM KM Enablers Collaboration Trust Learning Centralization Knowledge Creation Process Organizational Creativity Organizational Performance (Climate) Adapted from Lee & Choi (2003) Add Blogging

UH Manoa14 Climate as Antecedents of Effective KM Autonomy Organizational Climate Cooperative Learning Work Satisfaction Work Performance Add Blogging Adapted from Janz & Prasarnphanich (2003)

UH Manoa15 Climate and Intention to Share Knowledge Organizational Climate Anticipated Reciprocal Relationships Attitude toward Knowledge Sharing & Subjective Norm Intention to share Knowledge Add Blogging Adapted from Bock, et al. (2005)

UH Manoa16 Organizational Climate Trust Environment Organizational Outcomes Blogging Policy Blogging Behavior Individual Trust Individual Outcomes Organizational Climate Trust Environment Blogging Policy Individual Trust Organizational Outcomes Blogging Behavior Individual Outcomes Research Model Phase 1 Phase 2 (Future Longitudinal Study)

UH Manoa17 Hypotheses about Outcomes Trusting organizational climates correlate with numbers of employees blogging at, and about, work There is a “virtuous circle” of a trusting organizational climate and blogging Social networks will be broader with blogging and the social & professional contacts of blogging will be as important as KM issues. Strength of weak ties – Granovetter (1973)

UH Manoa18 Data Collection & Analysis Most blog research has been rich but based on interviews Need more systematic survey of organizational (1) policies, (2) expectations of management, (3) employee attitudes and behaviors Make a contribution on the first phase – addition to the organization climate models -- while laying the ground work for a longitudinal study Content analysis of blogging policies Structural equation modeling of survey data

UH Manoa19 Anticipated Contributions There is a lot of information on personal blogging but less practices, goals, and policies inside firms. Plan to add valid statistics Gain theoretical insights on the impact of blogs on desirable social behaviors, particularly trust and organizational climate Contribute to practice

UH Manoa20 Mahalo! To ARCS Foundation --Honolulu, to Columbia, and the Judges