Verifying a quantitative model of communities of practice in a computer users' community

Abstract

The participation in communities of practice (CoPs) is an important way to construct and share knowledge and skills, including those related to the use of technologies. However, the relationships between the fundamental CoP notions are not yet sufficiently researched. While there are numerous qualitative CoP studies in the educational research, quantitative studies are still lacking. A recent study [1] proposes a quantitative model focusing on the causal chain domain knowledge - participation - expert status - artifact development. However, this study has limited validity due to the relatively small sample, i.e. missing replications in various settings. The present study replicates the first, involving a different knowledge domain, i.e. computer usage, and slightly different instruments. Based on a sample of N = 60 members of an academic CoP, we find results similar to the previous research [1], and thus confirm the hypothesized causal model, at the same time enlarging its empirical basis. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.