Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Embeddedness and Media Use in Networks of Practice

  • Conference paper
Communities and Technologies 2007

  • 1068 Accesses

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the value of networks of practice in terms of their contribution in supporting the exchange of distributed knowledge. In explaining this value, we focus on the degree of embeddedness of these networks — both social embeddedness and embeddedness in practice. Since both forms of embeddedness can be assumed to be related to different modes of communication, we will seek explanations for both forms of embeddedness in media use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Ahuja, M. & Carley, K. (1999) Network Structure in Virtual Organizations. Organization Science, 10(6), 741–757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blackler, F. (1995). Knowledge, knowledge work and organization: an overview and interpretation. Organization Studies 6, 1021–1046.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bos, N, Olson, J., Gergle, D., Olson, G. & Wright, Z. (2002). Effects of four computer-mediated communication channels on trust development. Proceedings of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2002 (Minneapolis MN, April 2002. New York: ACM Press, 135–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J.S., & Duguid, P. (1991). Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning and innovation. Organization Science, 2, 40–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J.S., & Duguid, P. (2001). Knowledge and organization: A social-practice perspective. Organization Science, 12, 198–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burgoon, J.K., Stoner, G.M., Bonito, J.A., & Dunbar, N.E. (2003). Trust and Deception in Mediated Communication. Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science. Kona, HI: HICSS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, J. R. & Zmud, R.W. (1999). Channel expansion theory and the experiential nature of media richness perceptions. Academy of Management Journal 42(2), 153–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, S. & Brown, J.S. (1999). Bridging epistemologies; The generative dance between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing. Organization Science, 32, 554–569.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daft, R.L. & Lengel, R.H. (1984). Information richness: a new approach to managerial behavior and organizational design. In L.L. Cummings & B.M. Staw (eds.), Research in organizational behavior 6, 191–233. Homewood, IL: JAI Press 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daft, R.L., & Lengel, R.H. (1986). Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design. Management Science, 32, 554–569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dimmick, J., Kline, S. & Stafford, L. (2000). The gratification niches of personal e-mail and the telephone. Communication Research 27(2), 227–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doosje, B., Ellemers, N, & Spears, R. (1995). Perceived intragroup variability as a function of group status and identification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31, 410–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dyer, J.H. & Nobeoka, K. (2000). Creating and managing a high-performance knowledge-sharing network: the Toyota case. Strategic Management Journal 21,345–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gherardi, S. (2000). Practice-based theorizing on learning and knowing in organizations. Organization 7(2), 211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gherardi, S.,& Nicolini, D. (2000). The organizational learning of safety in communities of practice. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(1), 7–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91(3), 481–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gulati, R. (1998). Alliances and networks. Strategic Management Journal 19, 293–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gulati, R. (1999). Network location and learning: the influence of network resources and firm capabilities on alliance formation. Strategic Management Journal 20, 397–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handy, C. (1995). Trust and the virtual organization. Harvard Business Review. 73(3), 40–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, M.T., Mors, M.L., & Løvöas (2005). Knowledge sharing in organizations: Multiple networks, multiple phases. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 776–793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hislop, D. (2002). Mission impossible? Communicating and sharing knowledge via information technology. Journal of Information Technology 17, 165–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hislop, D. (2005). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huysman, M. & De Wit, D. (2004). Practices of managing knowledge sharing: Towards a second wave of knowledge management. Knowledge & Process Management 11(2), 81–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hustad, E. & Teigland, R. 2005. Taking a differentiated view of intraorganizational distributed networks of practice: A case study exploring knowledge activities, diversity, and communication media use. In P. van den Besselaar, G. de Michelis, J. Preece, and C. Simone, (eds.) Communities and Technologies 2005, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvenpaa, S.L. & Leidner, D.E. (1999). Communication and trust in global virtual teams. Organization Science 10(6), 791–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiesler, S., Siegel, J. & McGuire T.W. (1984). Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39(10), 1123–1134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lam, A. (1997). Embedded firms, embedded knowledge: Problems of collaboration and knowledge transfer in global cooperative ventures. Organization Studies 18(6), 973–996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics, and culture in everydaylife. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus, M.L. (1994). Electronic mail as the medium of managerial choice. Organization Science 5(4), 502–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon J.Y. & Sproull, L. (2002). Essence of distributed work: The case of the Linux kernel. In P. Hinds & S. Kiesler (Eds.), Distributed Work, (pp. 381–404). Cambridge: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nahapiet, J. & Goshal, S. (1998). Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 22, 242–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orlikowski, W.J. (1992). The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organizations. Organization Science, 3, 398–427. Orlikowski, W.J. (2002). Knowing in practice: enacting a collective capability in distributed organizing, Organization Science, 13, 249–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan, S. L., & Leidner, D. E. (2003). Bridging communities of practice with information technology in pursuit of global knowledge sharing. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 12(1), 71–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Postmes, T., Spears, R. & Lea, M. (1998). Breaching or Building Social Boundaries? SIDE-effects of Computer-Mediated Communication. Communication Research 25,689–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, J. (2000). From know-how to show-how? Questioning the role of information and communication technologies in knowledge transfer. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 12(4), 429–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruggles, R. (1998) The state of the notion: knowledge management in practice. California Management Review, 40(3), 80–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarbrough, H. & Swan, J. (2001) Explaining the diffusion of knowledge management: the role of fashion. British Journal of Management, 12, 3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Short, J., E. Williams & B. Christie (1976). The Social Psychology of Telecommunications. London: John Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, K.G., Collins, C.J., & Clark, K.D. (2005). Existing knowledge, knowledge creation capability, and the rate of new product introduction in hightechnology firms. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 346–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sole, D. & Huysman, M. (2002). Communities of practice and the role of location: revealing limits of virtuality and knowledge. Proceedings of the Twenty-Third International Conference on Information Systems.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sproull, L. & Kiesler, S. (1986). Reducing social context cues: electronic mail in organizational communication. Management Science 32(11), 1492–1512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trevino, L.K., Daft, R.L. & Lengel, R.H. (1990). Understanding manager’s media choices: A symbolic interactionist perspective. In: J. Fulk & C.W. Steinfield (eds.) Organizations and communication technology, (pp. 71–94). Newbury Park, CA: Sage

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsoukas, H. (1996). The firm as a distributed knowledge system: A constructionist approach. Strategic Management Journal 17(2), 11–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van den Hooff, B., Groot, J. & De Jonge, S. (2005). Situational influences on the use of communication technologies: a meta-analysis and exploratory study. Journal of Business Communication 42(1), 4–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaast, E. (2004). O Brother, where art thou? From communities to networks of practice through intranet use. Management Communication Quarterly, 18(1), 5–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walther, J.B. (1992). Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Communication: A relational perspective. Communication Research 19, 52–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walther, J.B. & Burgoon, J.K. (1992). Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction. Human Communication Research 21, 460–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walther, J.B. (1996). Computer-Mediated Communication; Impersonal, Interpersonal and Hyperpersonal Interaction. Communication Research 23(1), 3–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wasko, M.M. & Faraj, S. (2005). Why should I share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice. MIS Quarterly 29(1), 35–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice as social learning systems. Organization 7(2), 225–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrightsman, L. S. (1991). Interpersonal trust and attitudes toward human nature. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes: Vol. 1: Measures of social psychological attitudes (pp. 373–412). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Bart van den Hooff, Marleen Huysman & Marlous Agterberg

Authors
  1. Bart van den Hooff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marleen Huysman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marlous Agterberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Charles Steinfield

  2. Department of Accounting and Information Systems The Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Brian T. Pentland

  3. School of Information and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Mark Ackerman

  4. Department of Speech Communication, Department of Psychology, and the Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Noshir Contractor

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag London Limited

About this paper

Cite this paper

van den Hooff, B., Huysman, M., Agterberg, M. (2007). Embeddedness and Media Use in Networks of Practice. In: Steinfield, C., Pentland, B.T., Ackerman, M., Contractor, N. (eds) Communities and Technologies 2007. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-905-7_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-905-7_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84628-904-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84628-905-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation