Knowledge Collaboration in Online Communities

Organization Science 22(5), pp. 1224-1239, 2011

16 Pages Posted: 11 Dec 2014

See all articles by Samer Faraj

Samer Faraj

McGill University

Sirkka Jarvenpaa

University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business

Ann Majchrzak

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business

Date Written: February 23, 2011

Abstract

Online communities (OCs) are a virtual organizational form in which knowledge collaboration can occur in unparalleled scale and scope, in ways not heretofore theorized. For example, collaboration can occur among people not known to each other, who share different interests and without dialogue. An exploration of this organizational form can fundamentally change how we theorize about knowledge collaboration among members of organizations. We argue that a fundamental characteristic of OCs that affords collaboration is their fluidity. This fluidity engenders a dynamic flow of resources in and out of the community — resources such as passion, time, identity, social disembodiment of ideas, socially ambiguous identities, and temporary convergence. With each resource comes both a negative and positive consequence, creating a tension that fluctuates with changes in the resource. We argue that the fluctuations in tensions can provide an opportunity for knowledge collaboration when the community responds to these tensions in ways that encourage interactions to be generative rather than constrained. After offering numerous examples of such generative responses, we suggest that this form of theorizing — induced by online communities — has implications for theorizing about the more general case of knowledge collaboration in organizations.

Keywords: computer-supported collaborative work; organization communication and information systems; innovation; technology and innovation management; organizational processes; organizational behavior; organizational form; organization and management theory

Suggested Citation

Faraj, Samer and Jarvenpaa, Sirkka and Majchrzak, Ann, Knowledge Collaboration in Online Communities (February 23, 2011). Organization Science 22(5), pp. 1224-1239, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2536138

Samer Faraj

McGill University ( email )

1001 Sherbrooke St. W
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5
Canada

Sirkka Jarvenpaa

University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business ( email )

Austin, TX 78712
United States

Ann Majchrzak (Contact Author)

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business ( email )

701 Exposition Blvd
Los Angeles, CA California 90089
United States

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