Introduction: the role of social capital in knowledge-productive networks

In an environment where knowledge is the main organizational driver, the ability to learn fast, adapt regularly to new challenges and acquire technical and interactive capabilities to continuously improve and innovate is crucial (Harrison & Kessels, 2004). This ability is referred to as knowledge productivity (Kessels, 1995, 2001b). Knowledge productivity is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting relevant information, using this information to develop new capabilities and applying these capabilities to improve and radically innovate work processes, products and services (Kessels, 1995, 2001b). Learning with the intention of innovating requires that relevant parties cooperate. Cooperation is in its nature a fundamentally social activity. In the field of Human Resource Development (HRD) there is a growing interest in studying relations instead of purely individuals (Sanders, 2005). Simply, because when people are at work, connections with others compose the fabric of their daily activities (Dutton & Heaphy, 2003). Insight into how to facilitate and support this social dimension to enable knowledge productivity is an important future challenge in the field of learning and development (Harrison & Kessels, 2004). The relevance of learning in today’s organizational setting is rarely under debate. Despite this, the innovation debate is still strongly biased towards technical innovation (Volberda,Van Den Bosch & Jansen, 2006), thereby neglecting the various workplaces in organizations where innovation can take place (Verdonschot, 2009). Taking into account that planned organizational innovation often does not have the desired effect (Chesbourgh, 2006), academics are increasingly beginning to look at social capital and network theory to explain innovation processes in the day-to-day workplace (Burt, 2005; Obstfeld, 2005; Tsai & Ghoshal, 1998). This study aims to develop a theoretical framework that provides insight into how characteristics of social capital impact knowledge productivity within networks.