Connections, collaboration, and collective knowledge: fostering knowledge sharing community

This study’s purpose was to explore ways of bridging conspicuous barriers to collaborative knowledge sharing among a specific group of IT Professionals (ITPs) supporting a heterogeneous school of arts and sciences at a large public research university. Forming the core of the study were a structural-cultural lens, a design-based research methodology, and a reliance on qualitative and social-network analysis (SNA) techniques. The study’s key design feature was a long-term problem-based learning (PBL) experience implemented as a means for developing meaningful social arrangements to promote knowledge sharing among 12 participants, including myself as a participant observer. With participants subdivided into three small groups based on technical knowledge and relative preference for working independently, this 24-week PBL intervention revolved around a collaborative project to co-design an online knowledge sharing system. As facilitator, I attempted to guide structural elements like interactional format and frequency, emphasizing direct knowledge exchanges between participants. To inspire collaborative inclinations, I attempted to elicit ongoing discussion of meaningful ideals such as those embodied in the Open Source community. Ongoing collection and interpretation of several data sources informed attempts to make in-process adjustments throughout the study. Data included individual semi-structured pre- and post-intervention surveys, quantitative every-other-week SNA surveys, and semi-regular participant and facilitator journals, as well as every-other-week small-group logs and audio recordings of whole-group meetings. The study’s exploratory nature, context specificity, and non-experimental methodology warrant cautious interpretation. However, analysis suggests that opposing orientations – towards people on the one hand and processes on the other – corresponded with differences in knowledge sharing across the three small groups in which participants worked closely throughout the study. More specifically, “people-centric” structural and cultural factors like face-to-face interactions and values like fairness, inclusion, dialog, and transparency appeared to be related to the promotion of knowledge sharing relationships in the study context. Group compositional traits including similarity in social position, but regardless of collaborative skills and inclinations, appeared to be relevant factors as well. By suggesting the importance of people-centric sensitivities, (in)equality in social position, and structural rhythms, the findings may inform future attempts to foster knowledge sharing community among ITPs more generally.Ed.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby David T. Motovidla