Abstract:

The objective of this PhD study is to analyse how external knowledge gets integrated into the company through social networks. Specifically, we focus on individuals called technological gatekeepers. These boundary spanning individuals are key to capturing innovative knowledge from the external environment and integrating it into their local firm. However, it has been over 20 years since any significant investigation into the gatekeeper concept has been conducted. In the time since, there have been huge advances in ICT. These advances have significantly changed the way people communicate with each other. We know little about how ICT advances have impacted the gatekeeping role in contemporary organisations. The research question addressed by this study reads as follows: How does ICT impact the role of technological gatekeepers?