Equalization of What? Status, Expertise, and Tenure in Virtual Communities of Practice

Abstract

In today’s technological world, virtual communities of practice have become important organizational forms. Their growing popularity raises questions regarding the “flattening out” or “equalization” of status, expertise, and tenure and their effects. A survey and in-depth interviews were conducted in communities of practice of social-service providers in order to examine whether status, expertise, and tenure differences exist and how they affect members’ interactions. The findings demonstrate that status and expertise, external factors that are “imported” to the online communities from the larger professional community, are more evident and have a considerably larger perceived impact than tenure within the online communities.

Keywords:

• communities of practice
• expertise
• online communities
• status
• tenure
• virtual communities