From Relationships to Innovation: How Social Capital Resources Influence on Knowledge Exchange and Employee Innovative Potential in High-Tech Industries

Abstract

In knowledge-based economies, innovation is a key source of competitive advantage, particularly in innovative industries where employee knowledge is a strategic asset. Effective knowledge sharing supports the development of new ideas and solutions, yet it depends on organizational conditions. Social capital—comprising trust, relationships, and shared norms—facilitates cooperation and information exchange. However, the links between social capital resources, knowledge sharing, and employee innovativeness in innovative sectors remain insufficiently explored. Although the correlation between social capital and knowledge sharing has been described in the literature, there are still research gaps in that area. One of them is the correlation between social capital resources and employee knowledge sharing processes and innovativeness in innovative industries. With relation to this, the research aim was formulated, which is the identification of the dependency between the resources of social capital and the processes of sharing the knowledge and innovativeness of employees. Based on the theory of social capital in this research, a research framework was proposed that would facilitate the evaluation of the way in which the resources of social capital have an impact on the sharing of knowledge, its frequency and the innovativeness of employees. Empirical research using a standardised survey was conducted using the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique. A total of 575 department managers and employees of the innovation sector took part in the survey. The research found that social capital resources, in particular collaboration and loyalty, are significant moderators of knowledge sharing within work teams, while they have less influence on knowledge sharing among employees of different work teams. A strong correlation was also found between social capital resources and the frequency of knowledge sharing. Social capital resources have a significant impact on innovativeness. The novelty of the article is drawing attention to the importance of the correlation between social capital resources and knowledge sharing, necessary to build employee innovativeness, which may result in greater effectiveness in creating innovations.