ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the process of giving and receiving technical advice over an organizational computer network. It draws on theories of weak ties and prosocial motivation to suggest how this process can lead to useful advice and use data from one multinational firm to illustrate the process. Weak-tie theorists have proposed three arguments for why weak ties are useful. One argument is simply that weak ties comprise more numerous potential helpers than strong ties do. Theories of prosocial motivation suggest two alternative processes that could lead people to provide useful technical help to strangers, even when this help is personally costly. Information seekers asked primarily technical questions that averaged nearly half a page. They did not pose their questions lightly: 91" of information seekers reported querying at least one other information source before broadcasting their question. Information providers gave useful advice and solved the problems of information seekers despite their lacking a personal connection with the seekers.
