The Role of Enterprise Social Media in Enhancing Inter-departmental Interactions and Collaboration

In today's dynamic and volatile business environments, organizations are required to strengthen cross-border coordination and democratize the flow of information to maintain a competitive advantage. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive explanation of the role of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) in enhancing inter-departmental interactions and collaboration through a synthesis of modern research (۲۰۲۱-۲۰۲۵). Empirical findings indicate that the adoption of ESM changes the topology of communication networks, leading to increased network density and the creation of emerging "weak ties" that effectively break down "information silos" and bridge separate organizational units.This research, based on the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) framework, shows that ESM platforms facilitate the sharing of both explicit and tacit knowledge and improve task performance by enhancing affordances such as visibility and persistence. Furthermore, drawing on Social Exchange Theory (SET), these digital interactions strengthen Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and work engagement, leading to positive outcomes such as employee creativity and organizational agility in response to market changes.Additionally, the paper addresses the transformative role of smart technologies, showing that the use of Knowledge Broker Bots can increase inter-departmental interactions by up to ۲۵۳% and transform the process of identifying experts from a purely human activity into an efficient sociotechnical process. Finally, while examining the "dark side" of ESM, such as information overload and social exclusion, strategic solutions are provided for managers to balance digital and face-to-face interactions. This study introduces ESM as a "social lubricant" that, beyond traditional tools, distributes influence and power across the entire organizational hierarchy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Enterprise Social Media (ESM) ، Inter-departmental collaboration ، Knowledge sharing ، Employee agility ، Knowledge broker bots ، Employee creativity