Patterns of Information Retrieval in Communication Networks

As the amount of information accessible continues to grow, information retrieval becomes an increasingly complex process that organizational employees must navigate many times each day. Transactive memory (TM) theory explains how a team works as a system to gain, organize, and utilize information by sharing two or more individuals memories through various communication processes. This book explores communi-cation to retrieve information in organizational work teams from the combined prospective of TM theory and social networks. Here, the processes of TM theory are explicitly defined in networks terms, thereby allowing the use of advanced social network analysis techniques (that is, p* or Exponential Random Graph Models) for hypothesis testing and theoretical development. This research is based on observed information retrieval patterns from seven intact organizational work teams across multiple industries. This book addresses managers, employees, and academics who are interested in better understanding the intertwined relationship between communication networks and knowledge networks in work teams.