Mechanisms for enhancing the use of social media for knowledge sharing by the construction professionals

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms for transforming construction professionals' intentions into use of social media (SM) for knowledge sharing (KS). The objectives are to: identify the common types of SM platforms used by the construction professionals for KS; identify the key problems influencing transformation of the construction professionals' intentions into use of SM for KS; identify the factors mitigating the problems; and provide recommendations for enhancing construction professionals' use of SM for KS. Design/methodology/approach The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with Australian construction professionals and analysed using grounded theory (GT). The outcomes of the analyses formed a framework for the enhancement of SM use for KS. Findings The findings show that private SM followed by enterprise SM are more appealing to the construction professionals for KS compared to public SM; and uncertainties about users' privacy/confidentiality and the quality of the shared knowledge adversely affect the transformation of the construction professionals' intentions into use of SM for KS. Three types of trust are identified as the mitigators of the identified problems. A framework is proffered to enhance SM use for KS by construction professionals. Originality/value This paper contributes to the construction literature by developing a GT to explain the factors which impact the transformation of the construction professionals' intentions into use of SM for KS. Additionally, the practical contribution of this study is the provision of framework constituting recommendations for the enhancement of SM use for KS.