A Comparative Analysis of Social Information and Communication Systems for Supporting Potential Absorptive Capacity

This study provides a comparative analysis on the relative importance of social information and communication systems (SICS) to acquire and assimilate knowledge in the organizational context. Theoretically, we relate these knowledge processing stages to Potential Absorptive Capacity (PAC). As the usage of SICS to manage knowledge in organizations is becoming common practice, we need to understand which SICS support what kind of knowledge processing activity best. For this purpose, we developed a research model linking a SICS taxonomy with multiple criteria feeding into PAC. Based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), we allowed experts affiliated with different organizational units to assess the relative importance of different SICS in regard to their organizational value for each assessment dimension. Our exploratory findings, which we interpret and discuss using a technology affordance lens, indicate that SICS priorities vary across organizational units and knowledge processing stages. This study offers valuable insights for conducting effective knowledge-acquisition and assimilation practices in organizations.