Enhancing Peripheral Vision through Social Media Use: A Social Network Perspective

In today's highly dynamic and uncertain environment, peripheral vision is critical for organizational survival and prosperity. In accessing complex and ambiguous information, managers often resort to personal sources. While IT is found to improve the quality and quantity of information from well-structured databases and knowledge systems, its role in facilitating access of personal information is less clear. This paper examines how social media use impacts on managers' social networks and thereby gives them competitive advantages in peripheral vision. We propose that active social media use can improve managers' position in the network and strengthen the social relationships with their contacts, which then grant them a set of informational benefits. These informational benefits further help enhance managers' peripheral vision.