Afraid of engagement? Towards an understanding of engagement in virtual communities of practice

Collaborative Learning through a Virtual Community of Practice in Dementia Care Support: A Scoping Review

The aim of this scoping review was to identify, synthesize, and report research on reflective collaborative learning through virtual communities of practice (vCoP), which, to our knowledge, is scarce. A second aim was to identify, synthesize, and report research on the facilitators and barriers associated with resilience capacity and knowledge acquisition through vCoP. The literature was searched in PsycINFO, CINAHL, Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (ScR) framework guided the review. Ten studies were included in the review, seven quantitative and three qualitative studies, written in English and published from January 2017 to February 2022. The data were synthesized using a numerical descriptive summary and qualitative thematic analysis. Two themes: 'knowledge acquisition' and 'strengthening resilience capacity' emerged. The literature synthesis provides evidence of a vCoP as a digital space that supports knowledge acquisition and strengthens resilience for persons with dementia, and their informal and formal caregivers. Hence, the use of vCoP seems to be useful for dementia care support. Further studies including less developed countries are, however, needed to enable generalizability of the concept of vCoP across countries.

Encouraging teacher participation in Professional Learning Communities: exploring the Facilitating or restricting factors that Influence collaborative activities

With the ease of using information technology tools, the explosive growth of smartphone applications (apps), and the rise of learning communities on social media, the acceptance of learning communities has become one of the most significant challenges for higher education institutions in Taiwan. In order to better understand teachers' collaborative performance inlearning communities, this study employs the cognitive dimension (opportunism) andinternal tension dimension (e.g. rising expectation, relationship burden) as restrictive factors; on the other hand, it uses emotional support, sense of belonging, and interpersonal altruism as facilitating factors; and community interaction, relationship performance, and collaborative performance as endrogenous factors. With a cross-sectional survey method and a quantitative approach, this study further dives into the collaborative performance of professional learning communities. A total of 157 teachers (87 male and 70 female) were surveyed, and a structural equation modeling approach was used. It was found that social media learning communities have done better than previous courses of field learning in unrestraining learning styles and increasing the breadth of knowledge. Facilitating and restrictive factors led to the rearrangement of the entire knowledge contribution process, enabling new configurations of individuals, members, and community. Moreover, community interactions are important drivers of relationship and collaboration performance supported by empirical data. The findings offer guidelines for policymakers and educators who evaluate teachers' collaborative performance and relationship performance to promote teaching efficiency and effectiveness by incorporating cyberethics in educational activities.

Building a virtual community of practice: experience from the Canadian foundation for healthcare improvement's policy circle

BACKGROUND

Communities of Practice are formed by people who interact regularly to engage in collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor. Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP) are online communities that use the internet to connect people who share a common concern or passion. VCoPs provide a platform to share and enhance knowledge. The Policy Circle is a VCoP that connects mid-career professionals from across Canada who are committed to improving healthcare policy and practice. We wanted to understand the perceived value of the VCoP.

METHODS

We used qualitative and quantitative survey research to explore past and current Policy Circle members' thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to the program. Our research was guided by the Value Creation Framework proposed by Wenger and colleagues. Three surveys were created in collaboration with stakeholders. Data were analyzed within cohort and in aggregate across cohorts. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically, and quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (means of ranked and scaled responses).

RESULTS

Survey participation was high among members (Cohort 1: 67%, Cohort 2: 64%). Participants came from a variety of disciplines including medicine, health policy, allied health, and nursing, with most members having a direct role in health services research or practice. The program was successful in helping participants make connections (mean = 2.43 on a scale from 1 to 5: 1 = yes, significantly, 5 = not at all); variances in both qualitative and quantitative data indicated that levels of enthusiasm within the program varied among individuals. Members appreciated the access to resources; quarterly meetings (n = 11/11), and a curated reading list (n = 8/11) were the most valued resources. Participants reported the development of a sense of belonging (mean = 2.29) and facilitated knowledge exchange (mean = 2.43). At the time of this study, participants felt the program had minor impact on their work (mean = 3.5), however a majority of participants (50%) from Cohort 2 planned to acknowledge the program in their professional or academic endeavours. Through reflective responses, participants expressed a desire for continued and deeper professional network development.

CONCLUSIONS

The Policy Circle was successful in facilitating knowledge exchange by creating a community that promoted trust, a sense of belonging and a supportive environment. Members were satisfied with the program; to promote further value, the Policy Circle should implement strategies that will continue member participation and networking after the program is finished.

Empowering leadership and team innovation: The mediating effects of team processes and team engagement

This study explored the mediating effects of team processes and team engagement on the relationship between empowering leadership and team innovation using a time-lagged research design and two-source data, where the supervisors’ team innovation rating was measured after a 3-month lag. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that (1) team processes fully mediated the positive relationship between empowering leadership and team innovation, (2) team engagement fully mediated the positive relationship between empowering leadership and team innovation, and (3) the positive covariance of both team processes and team engagement contributed to stimulating the positive effect of empowering leadership on team innovation. Theoretical implications, practical implications, and directions for future research were also discussed.

Organization engagement: a review and comparison to job engagement

Purpose

Employee engagement has received a considerable amount of research attention over the last decade. However, most of the research has been on job or work engagement. Much less attention has been given to organization engagement, which is a distinct but related target of employee engagement. In this paper, we review the research on organization engagement and identify how it has been measured, its antecedents and consequences and how it compares to job engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides a narrative review of 40 studies that have measured organization engagement. Most of these studies have been published in the last five years, and they come from 20 different countries. The majority of studies also measured job or work engagement.

Findings

Most studies used Saks' (2006) measure of organization engagement. Many antecedents have been found to be related to organization engagement; however, those most often studied and consistently related to organization engagement are organizational-related resources such as perceived organizational support (POS), justice perceptions, corporate social responsibility (CSR), organizational structural factors, organizational climate and HR practices. Organization engagement has been found to be positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), job performance and organizational performance and negatively related to intention to quit. Organization engagement has also been found to partially or fully mediate the relationship between antecedents and consequences. In comparison to job engagement, organization engagement scores tend to be lower, and there are meaningful differences in the antecedents and consequences of organization engagement and job engagement. A number of studies found that organization engagement was more strongly related to several of the consequences than job engagement.

Practical implications

The results of this review indicate that organization engagement is as important if not more important than job engagement when it comes to its relationship to some of the consequences of employee engagement. Organizations should include a measure of organization engagement in employee surveys and focus on improving organization engagement by providing a supportive work environment, ensuring that employees have positive perceptions of justice, increasing CSR initiatives, providing a variety of human resources (HR) practices and improving organizational climate.

Originality/value

This paper provides the first comprehensive review of research on organization engagement and offers a new model of the antecedents and consequences of organization engagement and compares organization engagement to job engagement.

Co-Worker Support and Communities of Practice

Communities of practice foster sharing of knowledge in the organisations. For the creation of such an organisational-level practice community, a motivating environment for the development of such practice communities should be created by the support perspective among co-workers, supervisors, and the organisation. The present study examines the relationship between Co-Worker Support and Communities of Practice with mediating role of Personal Interaction. The data was collected from 178 respondents representing the manufacturing and service sector Indian Organisations with various demographic characteristics. In accordance with the hypotheses developed, the findings supported the hypotheses. The structural equation modelling showed the path from co-worker support to communities of practice is mediated by Personal Interaction with highly significant results. The theoretical and managerial implications concerning the importance of support, most importantly co-worker support, are mentioned in the study. Future scope of research is suggested based on the current findings of this study.

Effect of a community of practice on knowledge sharing across boundaries: the mediating role of learning goals

Purpose

A community of practice (CoP) is believed to be a driver for knowledge creation but it can hinder knowledge sharing across boundaries. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate how a CoP within a single unit promotes knowledge sharing with other units by examining the mediating effect of the members’ learning goals (LG).

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling was conducted using a two-wave survey data on nurses from eight Japanese hospitals (n = 263).

Findings

The results indicated that LG fully and positively mediated the effect of a CoP on the knowledge-sharing intention of one unit toward other units and that LG fully and negatively mediated the effect of a CoP on knowledge withholding (KW) from other units.

Practical implications

Knowledge managers need to note that intellectual benefits from experienced CoP can play a key role in reducing the perceived risks associated with members’ knowledge sharing and in creating effective knowledge sharing with other units.

Originality/value

The main contribution is to identify the process by which CoP promotes knowledge sharing and prevents KW across boundaries mediated through LG. This study is the first to quantitatively show how LG cross inter-professional barriers caused by CoPs.