A Sociotechnical Perspective on Knowledge Networks (Research Seminar, March 11, 2004) Maryam Alavi Emory University Abstract Knowledge management has become a major focus of organizations in recent years, as organizations seek to capture, store, and disseminate knowledge both in their information systems and in the structures and processes though which they operate. Research in this area has been abundant. However, it has been limited by either adopting the technical perspective (i.e. an exclusive focus on the development and implementation of information systems) or from the organizational perspective (i.e., an exclusive focus on the social processes and networks). Relatively little research has aimed at combining these two perspectives. Observing that in most modern firms information technologies are interlaced with social systems, this presentation proposes a “sociotechnical network” approach to the study of knowledge management in organizational settings. A program of research based on this perspective is presented.