Value Creation in Knowledge Networks: Five Design Principles

Knowledge networks enable businesses to enhance their levels of
innovation and market competitiveness. In this paper, we propose five
principles for designing IT tools that can support the facilitation and
improvement of knowledge networks. We also introduce a new value
proposition that constitutes a ‘nascent’ design theory in the domain of
knowledge network improvement. The design principles are derived from an
iterative process applied in three different case settings. In each case, we
apply and evaluate the ‘network nexus’ tool to determine whether the
knowledge network provides value to its participants.