Creation of professional networks: an emergent model using telemedicine as a case

Information technologies enhance efficiency oriented organizational networks and enable creation of expertise oriented professional networks. However, whether IT-enabled efficiency and professional networks exist jointly or independently, what their determinants are, and how they interplay remain to be explained. In this study, we seek answers to these questions using case studies of one IT application, telemedicine, at three medical centers in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). We find that telemedicine enables coexistence of efficiency and professional networks. We identify ego and reputation of professionals, intellectual challenge and decision risks posed by problem situations, and tacitness and teachability of the expertise involved as important factors in creation of IT-enabled professional networks. We develop a research model and discuss how these factors interplay in efficiency and professional networks.