ABSTRACT

Whilst the role of online communities (OCs) in knowledge exchange and generation has been widely discussed, limited research exists on the distance and direction of OC knowledge flows. In this paper, we examine this issue by taking the case of an industry-founded OC that rendered around the use of a specific Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) module used by public sector organisations. Through a grounded analysis approach, we extend literature on OCs by identifying user-generated practices that enable knowledge flows in the online space as well as by examining the travels of these knowledge flows, taking particular account of the distance they cover and the direction they take. Findings point to within, outwards and inwards travels of OC-related knowledge flows showing a widely spread OC knowledge impact. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

摘要

虽然在线社区（OC）在知识交流和生成中的作用已被广泛讨论，但关于 OC 知识流动的距离和方向的研究有限。在本文中，我们以一个由行业创立的 OC 为例来研究这个问题，该 OC 围绕公共部门组织使用的特定企业资源规划 (ERP) 模块的使用而呈现。通过扎根的分析方法，我们通过识别用户生成的实践来扩展关于 OC 的文献，这些实践使知识能够在在线空间中流动，并通过检查这些知识流的传播，特别考虑到它们所覆盖的距离和它们所采取的方向. 调查结果表明 OC 相关知识流的内部、向外和向内传播，显示出广泛传播的 OC 知识影响。