THE ROLE OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN THE PROCESS OF CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES IN A COMPANY

Development of the Internet and social media allowed for creating and maintaining of social and business relations in cyberspace which resulted in dynamic growth of virtual communities whose members are very often stakeholders of a company including: customers, employees, suppliers, creditors and investors. These entities are differentiated by their knowledge potential and willingness to share this knowledge with other entities inside and outside the community. In contemporary companies where the foundation of competitive potential is knowledge the usage of diversified knowledge potential is not only a necessity but also a challenge. The main purpose of the paper is highlighting the possibilities to apply virtual communities in the process of goodwill creation. The research presented in the paper aimed at determining the reasons for using virtual communities among the citizens of Poland between 2008 and 2016 and the results of this research confirmed feeble utilisation of knowledge potential of virtual communities in the creation of knowledge resource in a company