A journey through communities of practice: How and why members move from the periphery to the core

Specific forms of intra-organizational or inter-organizational networks – communities of practice (CoPs) – are becoming increasingly important. These informal groups of people are well suited for the development and sharing of knowledge and practices across divisions. Our investigation of 9 CoPs (created between 1997 and 2002) in 7 major European and US multinational corporations uncovers a 5-phase process of integration and learning activities. Our findings detail a process of member evolution from peripheral, to active, to core members. These five phases – awareness, allocation, accountability, architectural, and advertising – constitute an ongoing process within CoPs, with newcomers joining and some long-standing core members choosing to end their participation