Building a Knowledge Brokering System using social network analysis: A case study of the Korean financial industry

The importance of knowledge is increasing in our global and knowledge-based society. As a part of knowledge management, successful knowledge transfer can improve an organization’s competitive advantages and increase an organization’s valuable knowledge assets. However, knowledge transfer is complex and a lot of factors exist that affect successful knowledge transfer such as context, social networks, and IT/IS. This paper aims at the role of the knowledge broker which is to be a link between knowledge seekers and knowledge experts. In this context, this research implemented a Knowledge Brokering System – called K-broker system – as a prototype system to improve knowledge transfer in an organization based on an analysis of users’ social network. The K-broker system can provide a ‘single view’ screen for identifying knowledge experts and has no bottlenecks in contrast with a human knowledge broker and can provide a permanent communication channel between knowledge seekers and knowledge experts.

► This paper aims at the role of the knowledge broker which is to be a link between knowledge seekers and knowledge experts. ► This research implemented a Knowledge Brokering System – called K-broker system – as a prototype system to improve knowledge transfer in an organization. ► The K-broker system can provide a ‘single view’ screen for identifying knowledge experts and has no bottlenecks in contrast with a human knowledge broker. ► Furthermore, it can provide a permanent communication channel between knowledge seekers and knowledge experts.