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Web 2.0, social capital and work performance in service companies: the employees’ view

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Abstract

Web 2.0 networks have provoked a revolution in the last years due to their capacity to modify human relationships, particularly in business contexts. Social capital, as a crucial intangible asset embedded in Web 2.0 networks, can be extremely helpful to build and optimize personal and organizational power or resources. This exploratory study empirically analyzes the use of Web 2.0 networks for work-related purposes under a new perspective: the perception of Spanish service companies’ employees. Results show a reasonable employee use of Web 2.0 applications with work-related purposes, and identify the main benefits from them and relevant differences in their use.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Universitat Politècnica de València (Grant SP20120916) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant ECO2011-29863) for their financial support for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEGEA, Centre for Research in Business Management, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera, s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Guillermina Tormo-Carbó & Elies Seguí-Mas

  2. Department of Business Management, Facultat d’Economia, University of Valencia, Av. Tarongers, s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Victor Oltra

Authors
  1. Guillermina Tormo-Carbó
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  2. Elies Seguí-Mas
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  3. Victor Oltra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guillermina Tormo-Carbó.

Appendix: Questionnaire

Appendix: Questionnaire

How frequently do you participate in these types of Web 2.0 social networks?:

APP1: Social networking communities (e.g., Facebook).

APP2: Professional networking communities (e.g., LinkedIn).

APP3: Online video-sharing or media-sharing (e.g., YouTube).

APP4: Collaboration tools as blogs or communities of interest.

What benefits do you expect from participating in Web 2.0 social networks?:

BEN1: Sharing work-related information.

BEN2: Solving work-related problems.

BEN3: Improving the chances of getting a better job and/or career opportunities.

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Tormo-Carbó, G., Seguí-Mas, E. & Oltra, V. Web 2.0, social capital and work performance in service companies: the employees’ view. Serv Bus 8, 439–452 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-014-0248-8

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