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Inter-Organizational Communities of Practice: Specificities and Stakes

Author

Listed:
  • Frédéric Dalsace

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Bertrand Moingeon

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Bertrand Quélin

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Fabrice Lumineau

Abstract

Inter-organizational communities of practice (IOCoPs) are today an emergent research topic and studies in this area are still in an exploratory phase. Theoretical mechanisms are vaguely specified and empirical studies are incipient. For this reason, this paper firstly aims at presenting the specificities and stakes of such organizational forms, establishing reference points for further research in this field. We will introduce the main features of IOCoPs and explain why they do not represent a mere subcategory of CoPs, but a unit of analysis per se. In this paper, we will follow a thematic approach to indicate IOCoPs' specificities and stakes. We will thus look at the IOCoPs' actors (in part I), IOCoPs as original organizational forms (part II), then IOCoPs' life cycle (part III). Finally, we will synthesize IOCoPs' distinctive features and conclude with a discussion on key interests of IOCoPs for both practitioners and academics.

Suggested Citation

  • Frédéric Dalsace & Bertrand Moingeon & Bertrand Quélin & Fabrice Lumineau, 2012. "Inter-Organizational Communities of Practice: Specificities and Stakes," Working Papers hal-00687837, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00687837
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kexin Zhao & Bin Zhang & Xue Bai, 2018. "Estimating Contextual Motivating Factors in Virtual Interorganizational Communities of Practice: Peer Effects and Organizational Influences," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 910-927, December.
    2. Lise Arena & Eamonn Molloy, 2010. "The Governance Paradox in Megaprojects," Post-Print halshs-00721622, HAL.
    3. Vincent Lefebvre & Miruna Radu Lefebvre & Eric Pierre Simon, 2015. "Formal entrepreneurial networks as communities of practice: a longitudinal case study," Post-Print hal-01217308, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Community of practice; inter-organizational relationships; professional practice; expertise; knowledge management; learning; organizational boundaries; life-cycle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights

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