A case study of a knowledge worker team in a virtual community
by Eugenia Y. Huang, Chien-Hsin Huang, Shu-Chiung Lin
International Journal of Innovation and Learning (IJIL), Vol. 2, No. 2, 2005

Abstract: In a quest to bring out the workings of a knowledge worker team in a virtual community, a novel virtual community is discovered – the federal virtual community (FVC). Unlike conventional centralised virtual communities, FVC adopts a distributed community structure. Ourinet, an open source software development community and an FVC, is examined to uncover the strengths of an FVC and what it takes to ensure the quality of project output from members. The activities of a virtual community and the characteristics of a knowledge worker team are first summarised from literature, then a conceptual model that signifies the relationship of these two constructs is proposed for examination. With the findings of the case analysis, the model is further modified. The model infers that advanced communication mechanisms are not sufficient in operating such a virtual community. Clear positioning and its continuing adjustment is the key to sustain the community's growth. Also, occasional effective face-to-face communication and formal legal contracts from the physical world are necessary in assuring good output quality.

Online publication date: Tue, 15-Feb-2005

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Innovation and Learning (IJIL):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com