Social Capital, An Important Ingredient to Effective Knowledge Sharing: Meditute, A Case Study

Abstract

This chapter introduces social capital as a concept useful in identifying the ingredients necessary for knowledge sharing in Healthcare. Social capital is defined and its importance as a concept for identifying the conditions necessary for knowledge exchange is discussed. Furthermore the introduction of an online database and tutorial system (Meditute) is presented as a case study to highlight the importance of social capital where information systems are used in the sharing process. The authors anticipate that the use of social capital to analyse knowledge sharing initiatives will lead to more holistic approaches. Such approaches will inform both researchers and managers as to the many factors that affect knowledge sharing.