Title: Lurking: a challenge or a fruitful strategy? A comparison between lurkers and active participants in an online corporate community of practice

Authors: Mirjam Neelen, Sibren Fetter

Addresses: C/o Sibren Fetter, Open University, Learning Sciences, Postbus 2960, 6401 DL, Heerlen, The Netherlands. ' Open University, Learning Sciences, Postbus 2960, 6401 DL, Heerlen, The Netherlands

Abstract: For today|s organisations to obtain competitive advantages, online corporate communities of practice (CoPs) are indispensable. However, often the majority of its participants does not post content; they lurk. We explore four different perspectives on why people lurk; that is free-riding, legitimate peripheral participation, microlearning, and knowledge sharing barriers, and analyses whether and why they are detrimental or fruitful for the knowledge management process. To gain insight in the reasons for people to lurk, we conducted a study comparing lurkers and active participants of an online corporate CoP in the light of the perspectives as presented above. First, the results of this study indicate that lurkers use the obtained knowledge on the job and therefore cannot simply be considered free-riders. Second, study results suggest that lurkers use lurking as a learning strategy, which confirms the microlearning hypothesis. Last, the results of this study indicate that knowledge sharing barriers can enhance lurking and might be detrimental for the knowledge management process.

Keywords: lurking; lurkers; online communities; corporate communities; communities of practice; knowledge management; KM; learning strategy; microlearning; virtual communities; web based communities; active participants; knowledge sharing; online corporate CoPs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2010.038649

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2010 Vol.6 No.4, pp.269 - 284

Received: 13 Apr 2010
Accepted: 02 Nov 2010

Published online: 17 Feb 2011 *

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