Online Communities of Practice: Current Information Systems Research

This book comprises a preliminary literature review for the topic of online communities of practice. An online community of practice allows community members to share knowledge and social support on a topic of interest through computer-mediated communication. How can organizations develop and maintain online communities of practice? When creating communities of practice, organizations face the challenge of crafting an online environment that encourages broad-based participation by the community it serves. Communities which do not engender knowledge sharing between their members ultimately die. A consulting firm estimated that about half of the on-line communities set up by Fortune 1000 companies will not live up to expectations (Ransbotham et al. 2011). What factors encourage knowledge sharing behaviors and continued participation?

Part one of this book introduces online communities of practice and then examines three types of factors which affect the success of knowledge sharing in online communities of practices: Individual Motivations, Community Factors and Technological factors (Erat et al. 2006). Part two of the book summarizes by theme the journal articles referenced in part one as well as additional articles on similar topics.