“Communities of Practice” as an Analytical Construct: Implications for Theory and Practice

Abstract

The “community of practice” (CoP) has emerged as a potentially powerful unit of analysis linking the individual and the collective because it situates the role of learning, knowledge transfer, and participation among people as the central enterprise of collective action. The authors?uo; surface tensions and highlight unanswered questions regarding CoP theory, concluding that it relies on a largely normative and under-operationalized set of premises. Avenues for theory development and the empirical testing of assertions are provided.

Keywords:

• organizational learning
• knowledge management
• organizational behavior
• innovation

Notes

1. Our review of the literature regarding the utilization and interpretation of CoPs involved a survey of major social science databases, including Social Science Abstracts, ERIC, Expanded Academic, Applied Science and Technology Index, Anthropology Plus, PubMed, Social Work Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, World Wide Political Science Abstracts and Google Scholar. In total, over 230 references were reviewed. Although we took measures to ensure that this review is comprehensive, the reader should note that as with all reviews of the literature, missing references are likely.

2. SeeLave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998; Henning, 1998; Trowler & Knight, 2000; Pereles et al., 2002; Au, 2002; Barab et al., 2000; Lathlean & le May, 2002; Somekh & Pearson, 2002; Swan et al., 2002; Gabbay et al., 2003; Huang et al., 2003; Ardichvili et al., 2003; Boud & Middleton, 2003; Faber et al., 2003; Gallucci, 2003; Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2004a; Starkey et al., 2004; Schnekel, 2004; Youngblood, 2004; Zanetich, 2003; Bouwen & Taillieu, 2004; Corso, 2004; Dube et al., 2005; Fontaine & Millen, 2004; Fuller et al., 2005; Rohde, 2004; Anthony, 2007.