The influence of collaborative technology knowledge on advice network structures

This research describes an experiment designed to understand how an individual's knowledge concerning task-critical technologies influences the structure of their advice network relationships. The results indicate that an individual's technology knowledge leads them to become more central depending on the type of technology, their formal group structure, and task uncertainty. These results contribute to the theory on advice networks by demonstrating how individual knowledge, task uncertainty, and group departmentation influence the evolution of an advice network structure. It suggests that managers should make informed decisions about the formal group structuring and technology training which can improve their employee's advice networks. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.