Social Capital and Knowledge Integration in an ERP Project Team: The Importance of Bridging AND Bonding

Abstract

Abstract A project team, set up to design and implement a large‐scope IT system, is essentially tasked with integrating distributed knowledge. This suggests that the social capital of members will be organizationally important. However, we suggest that in understanding the relationship between social capital and knowledge integration within a project team, it is necessary to distinguish between two forms of social capital – external bridging social capital and internal bonding social capital. We argue that for the effective mobilization of ‘weak’ social capital bridges for collective purposes, there is first a need to create ‘strong’ social capital bonds within the project team so that it becomes a cohesive social unit that will be able to effectively integrate knowledge that is acquired through members' bridging activity.