Knowledge management, social media and employee creativity

•The transformational role of social media on conversational and collaborative KM.•Theoretical explanation and empirical evidence of the role of KM on creativity performance.•Evidence of the existence and relation of a meso level (social networks) on employee creativity.•Practical and theoretical implications on how to create and manage creative social networks.

The study investigates the relation between social media use and employee creativity by adopting a knowledge management (KM) approach in order to consider the influence of social networks and interactions on individuals’ creativity. The literature review debates how the use of social media empowers people to engage in conversational and collaborative KM, which in turn enriches people's cognitive and creative processes. Data collected from Greek tourism professionals confirmed that employees’ creativity is positively related to their participation in social networks and their use of social media for: searching, storing and reading information (internal cognitive processes); and sharing, discussing and co-creating information (external cognitive processes). The study contributes to the field by providing a theoretical underpinning and practical evidence showing how social networks (i.e. a meso level) can influence employees’ creativity. Hence, the findings highlight the need to shift focus from identifying and managing creative individuals (micro level) and/or organisational contexts (macro level) to creating and managing creative social networks (meso level).