This study investigates the impact of an online community's control structure on the knowledge sharing process in that community. Using a framework comprised of legitimate peripheral participation theory and the weak-ties phenomenon, the study focuses on a comparative analysis of self-organizing online communities (e.g., weblog networks) and centralized online communities (e.g., discussion forums communities) with respect to the efficacy of knowledge sharing in these communities. The findings of this study indicate that self-organizing communities of practice have more weak-ties among their members compared to centralized communities. As per weak-ties theory of Granovetter (1973, 1983), these findings suggest that self-organizing communities facilitate greater dissemination of knowledge and flow of information among their members than centralized communities. The abundance of weak-ties in their community structure also makes self-organizing communities better environments for the discovery of new information compared to centralized community environments. This study did not find any evidence of community structure impact on peripheral participation and the interaction activity level among peripheral participants of a given online community. These observations may have stemmed from the limitations of research design, however, it is safe to say as of now that verdict on peripheral participation differences in different community structures is inconclusive at best. / Master of Science

Governments around the world have pursued ICT based initiatives including the provision of infrastructure to assist regional areas to develop economically (Beckinsale et al. 2006). There has been considerable interest in exploiting ICT to develop high technology clusters and support innovative networks (Lawson & Lorenz 1999). However, these initiatives have met with mixed success. It is clear that such development depends on more than providing appropriate technology Attention to social and organisational factors is crucial if regional areas are to realise the potential of ICT as a tool for regional development (Gengatharen & Standing 2005). It is important to understand the nature of business networking as well as the perspective of those participating in such networks if successful initiatives are to be established. The aim of this research is to identify how ICT can be used for knowledge sharing among businesses in regional areas and how the online networks through which knowledge is shared can contribute to the development of the region. This research investigates the question of what value small businesses in those regions derive from knowledge sharing networks using ICT. It also seeks to identify the value creation potential of those networks for their region. Previous research has shown that large organisations have achieved significant value from virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) as a structure for sharing knowledge and supporting innovation (Wenger 2004). The concept of Communities of Practice and Virtual Communities of Practice provided a useful point of departure for this research. The investigation comprised interpretive case studies of two Australian regional areas and their local business networks which incorporated SMEs in a variety of industries. Each case study was conducted in three stages. First, semi-structured interviews were conducted with regional economic development leaders. Second, 192 small and medium business owners were surveyed about their business activities and their participation in local business networks. Third, in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 small business owners to gain a richer understanding of their participation in knowledge-sharing networks and the value they realised or anticipated from various knowledge-sharing activities. A combined analysis of the two cases was conducted as well as the individual analyses. The research adopted a modified Structured Case method (Carroll & Swatman 2000). The analysis of the two case studies revealed: a.) There was a significant difference between the majority of SMEs who traded within the region and those trading largely beyond the region. The latter’s more proactive online sharing knowledge and seeking of business opportunities would enable them to access most value from VCoEs. b.) The participating SMEs operated in a number of industries and what they had in common was an interest in improving their enterprises. Consequently they used their regional networks which were not aligned to any one industry to make connections and share knowledge. They did not necessarily seek to access specific information. c.) A necessary prerequisite of VCoEs is having vibrant CoEs where face-to-face interaction enhances the development of trust and social capital. This appeared as an important factor facilitating the move to incorporate online knowledge sharing. d.) Younger businesses appeared to gain the most value from knowledge sharing in CoEs as they were using their networks to determine how to grow their firm. e.) The value of VCoEs to the SME participants is primarily in their general connection to other businesses in the region. Since the participants operate in a number of industries, what they have in common is an interest in their enterprises. The main value appears to come from the potential of the VCoEs to add to this connection and to social capital. This study found that successful management of VCoEs must: i) Ensure the network website is actively used by members before attempting to incorporate online knowledge sharing. ii) Monitor and stimulate online forum interaction rather than rely on interaction to occur naturally. iii) Not rely on email as a mechanism for stimulating knowledge sharing. Email is seen as more appropriate for formal documentation than for candid exchange of views. The concept of virtual communities of practice was found to be somewhat inappropriate for the diverse SMEs in the regional networks. Because of their diversity, they do not necessarily see value in sharing knowledge about practice but they do see value in sharing more general information and in providing support, connection and ideas that facilitate the strategic direction of their business. To address this issue, the concept of virtual communities of enterprise (VCoEs) is proposed as recognition of what the participating SMEs had in common: an interest in their individual businesses as part of the region. The original contribution of this research consists of its identification of the issues in linking SMEs across industries. It provides new insights on the business practices of regional SMEs and developed the concepts of Community of Enterprise (CoE) and Virtual Community of Enterprise (VCoE) to capture the special nature of knowledge sharing in regional multi-industry business networks. New perspectives are revealed on the ways that value could be derived from knowledge sharing by these regionally networked SMEs, as such it adds to the body of knowledge in an area where there has been little systematic investigation. This research reinforces the importance of social capital as an essential pre-requisite for accessing the value of intellectual capital in regions. Social capital emerges as vital when establishing and maintaining face-to-face knowledge sharing in regional networks and a necessary pre-condition for successfully establishing online knowledge sharing. Trust is a key factor and this research extends understanding of the role of social capital and the importance of trust in regional networks and online interaction. Its findings have significant implications for the development and management of CoEs and VCoEs as it outlines the key elements that need to be addressed when establishing and maintaining them, the appropriate applications for this context and the issues involved in management of the networking and online contexts. These findings not only increase our understanding of the management dynamics of online networks, they can also provide guidance to those seeking to establish successful VCoEs.

Knowledge management (KM) is regarded as a strategic asset and a source of competitive advantage for organisations. While the issues of KM have been widely discussed by many researchers, there is a paucity of studies pertaining to the role of KM in enhancing the performance of universities, especially Ghanaian universities. Similarly, there is the lack of formal strategy that would provide an appropriate framework for these systems to ensure maximum utilisation of available knowledge for competitive advantage. Due to this, Ghanaian universities have been continually reinventing the wheel each time they lose knowledge through expertise leaving the universities. This loss of knowledge through expert staff exiting raises the need to have systems and strategies in place that will help the universities to capture that relevant knowledge. The research thus set out to address these problems by assessing the implementation of KM systems in Ghanaian universities and the strategies that could be adopted to manage and safeguard knowledge as a competitive advantage and for future use. A survey and a mixed method research approach, which encompasses a questionnaire and interview schedules, were used to collect data from the stratified sampled respondents. One hundred and eighteen (80.27%) questionnaires were successfully received from the respondents, while all nine interviewees successfully responded to the interviews. Pattern matching, content analysis and explanation-building were used to analyse the qualitative data. The Microsoft spreadsheet and SPSS software were used to analyse the quantitative data and descriptive statistics in the form of tables, pie charts and histograms were used to present the findings. The findings of this study showed that: the concepts of KM was universally understood by the respondents; KM processes were effective; systems and facilities such as internet, intranet, e-mails, mobile technology and DVD/VCD/CD were used to facilitate KM at the universities; leadership, culture, technologies and strategies were the KM enablers; e-learning, coaching and mentorship, communities of practice, and storytelling were the main strategies used to manage and safeguard knowledge; and KM systems had a positive impact on the universities. The study finally formulated an integrated KM framework to guide the implementation of KM systems in universities. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-19T11:50:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 affonso2012.pdf: 1197414 bytes, checksum: 19e23509203341d0dceb18e7468ab2ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-09 / This dissertation investigates the interaction and learning processes that occur in virtual communities of practice, with emphasis given to experiences hosted in Brazilian public portals. To better understand these experiences one considers here the general characteristics and evolution of some outstanding initiatives of electronic government in Brazil. One also considers theoretical approaches to the following basic concepts: community, social network, virtual community and virtual social network, virtual communities of practice. Specificities, advantages and problems involved in the creation and maintenance of virtual communities of practice, according to experts, are taken into consideration in an online questionnaire applied to the members of two virtual communities: The Amadeus community hosted in the Brazilian Portal de Software Público and the community called Comitê Técnico de Gestão do Conhecimento e Informação Estratégica (CT-GCIE) hosted in the Portal das Comunidades Virtuais do Setor Público. Results obtained from data analysis developed here, systematically comparing the two communities, indicate that they are active and seem to contribute to their member s professional development. Results, including suggestions given by respondents, also point out to some problems faced by the communities studies and provide some ideas to those interested in creating, participating and in keeping alive an online community of practice / Esta dissertação investiga os processos de interação e aprendizagem em comunidades de prática virtuais, com ênfase em experiências hospedadas em portais públicos brasileiros. Para melhor compreensão dessas experiências, abordam-se, inicialmente, algumas características gerais, evolução e iniciativas marcantes do governo eletrônico no Brasil. A seguir, consideram-se as discussões teóricas envolvidas no uso de conceitos fundamentais para o entendimento do tema: os conceitos de comunidade e de rede social, de comunidade virtual e de rede social na internet, bem como de comunidade de prática na internet. Abordam-se aqui também as considerações de especialistas sobre vantagens, especificidades e problemas envolvidos na criação e manutenção de comunidades de práticas na internet. Alguns aspectos básicos destacados por teóricos do tema das comunidades de prática embasam a elaboração de um questionário online aplicado aos membros de duas comunidades virtuais: a comunidade Amadeus hospedada no Portal de Software Público Brasileiro e na comunidade Comitê Técnico de Gestão do Conhecimento e Informação Estratégica (CT-GCIE) hospedada no Portal das Comunidades Virtuais do Setor Público. A análise dos dados, cotejando sistematicamente as características das duas comunidades, revela que ambas estão ativas e parecem contribuir significativamente para o desenvolvimento profissional dos seus membros. Os resultados obtidos, incluindo as sugestões fornecidas pelos respondentes, também desvendam alguns problemas e apontam caminhos a serem tomados para a melhoria e o crescimento das comunidades focalizadas no estudo, bem como fornecem insumos para aqueles que estejam interessados em criar, participar ativamente e manter viva uma comunidade de prática online

The main thrust of this study argues that failure to account for the notion of power in considering learning in social contexts—like a working environment—inevitably presents an incomplete and unrealistic account of how learning actually is. Literature suggests that mainstream scholars and theorists have arguably pushed issues regarding the inter-connectedness of power and knowledge to the peripheral—resulting in both a paucity of theoretical coverage and empirical work on the subject. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this study takes inspiration from Foucault’s conceptualization of power—argued to provide a useful analytical framework for exploring power. Implications on how power impacts on learning in a contemporary workplace is viewed through the key ideas of ‘situated learning in communities of practice’ (Lave and Wenger). This study proposes that Foucault’s conceptualizations of power—regarding power as being relational and interconnected to knowledge—allows for a useful analytical framework that can sensitize our efforts towards understanding the power effects of knowledge with regards to learning at, and through, work practices, ultimately enabling us to re-work the concepts of ‘communities of practice’. The context of this study represents a professional knowledge-intensive workplace—Private Wealth Management (also referred to as Private Banking). Such contemporary work contexts—suggested to represent rather different environments vis-à-vis craft-like professions, for example—are argued to represent a more complex, conflicted and competitively-induced platform for learning. The wider regulatory environment was found to have strong influences in shaping the learning environment, representing both opportunities and restrictions for the bankers. Assessment based, compliant-driven and structured-training efforts were key drivers of the learning environment. Social interpersonal skills and professional relationships were observed as being integral and found to involve elements of power inequality, both within and across boundaries to which participants mediated, negotiated and often times obfuscated to effect power shifts through their discursive practices. Skills and perspectives, with regards to learning, evolved as the banker’s career trajectory progressed. Power punctuated not only the social network of relationships, but was also noted at the organizational level, via both explicit and implicit controls. Participants described purposeful thoughts and actions: mediating learning and strategizing outcomes in the respective environments with conflicted identity that requires balancing self, belongingness and directed efforts towards meeting the expectations of organization, respective clients and self.

This study explored and described decision factors related to technology adoption. The research used diffusion of innovations and communities of practice (CoP) theoretical frameworks and a case study of Web services technology in the digital library (DL) environment to develop an understanding of the decision-making process. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate the research problems and data were collected through semi-structured interviews, documentary evidence (e.g., meeting minutes), and a comprehensive member check. The research conducted face-to-face and phone interviews with seven respondents with different job titles (administraive vs. technical) from five different DL programs selected based on distinctive characteristics such as size of the DL program. Findings of the research suggested that the decision-making process is a complex process in which a number of factors are considered when making technology adoption decisions. These factors are categorized as organizational, individual, and technology specific factors. Further, data showed that DL CoPs played an important role in enabling staff members of a DL program to access up-to-date and experienced-based knowledge, provided a distributed problem solving and learning environment, facilitating informal communication and collaborative activities, and informing the decision-making process.

There is a need to create efficiency through digital technology within the elder care, as the elderly population of society is increasing. Existing IT-systems are considered incompatible with healthcare work, despite of Swedish investments in digital development in healthcare. Practices and the use of digital artefacts within an elder care home was therefore studied. Through an ethnographic qualitative method (consisting of field studies, video ethnography and interviews), the empirically driven study identified the healthcare workers existing interactions with- and use of digital technology, as well as the consequences that the use entailed. The study showed that the healthcare workers used the workplace’s existing digital technology as well as personal digital artefacts to solve daily tasks. Furthermore, the results showed that the healthcare workers interactions with personal digital artefacts mediated new work situations, and the healthcare workers desire for new digital work tools. / Inom äldreomsorgen finns ett behov av digital teknik som kan effektivisera omsorgsarbetet, eftersom den äldre befolkningen i samhället ökar. Trots Sveriges satsningar på digital utveckling inom vård- och omsorg, har det visat sig att personal inte anser att befintliga IT-system är kompatibla med vård- och omsorgsarbetet. Därför studerades praktiker och användning av digitala artefakter på ett vård- och omsorgsboende. Genom etnografisk kvalitativ metod (i form av fältstudier, videoetnografi och intervjuer) identifierade den empiriskt drivna studien personalens befintliga interaktioner med- och användning av digital teknik, samt de konsekvenser användningen medförde. Resultatet visade även att personalen använde arbetsplatsens befintliga digitala teknik, samt personliga digitala artefakter för att lösa dagliga arbetsuppgifter. Vidare visade studien att personalens interaktioner med personliga digitala hjälpmedel medierade nya situationer i arbetet och att personalen önskade nya digitala arbetsverktyg.

research aims to examine evidence concerning the implementation of learning theories in the QU PharmD programme, utilising a case study research approach. The research is divided into four stages, conducted under the umbrella of a social constructivist interpretative framework and the constructivist and social theories of learning. In the first stage, the perceptions of full-time students, faculty and preceptors in the QU PharmD programme were explored; these raised questions regarding the role of learning theory in the design and delivery of the programme. The second stage explored the extent to which the programme is based on learning theories by interviewing two programme designers, a pharmacy education scholar and an accreditation agency administrator. This stage proposed a disconnect between learning theories and educational practice in the QU PharmD programme, and suggested the need for investigating the implications of the proposed disconnect from a Communities of Practice (CoP) theory perspective. In the third stage, a novel CoP theory-informed framework was developed through an extensive review of the literature. In the fourth stage, the CoP framework was used as a theoretical instrument to analyse the evidence of CoP theory in the QU PharmD programme by conducting three focus groups and five interviews with key stakeholders, and by performing document analysis. The research suggests that the disconnect between CoP learning theory and the educational practices in the QU PharmD programme is at the “implicit disconnect” level, meaning that some elements of the CoP framework were implicitly evident. This implicit disconnect contributes to the challenges found in the programme. This study concludes with the creation of a case study-developed theory emphasising the importance of the full and explicit implementation of learning theory in educational practices. The theory calls for better integration of academic, practice, accreditation, and governmental sector efforts in professional healthcare educational reform initiatives.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-05-29T14:26:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Joseane Matias_.pdf: 6446969 bytes, checksum: a2da8204f9ca340b612ba0f9dab4ca20 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-29T14:26:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Joseane Matias_.pdf: 6446969 bytes, checksum: a2da8204f9ca340b612ba0f9dab4ca20 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-16 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Produzir textos na escola é uma tarefa desafiadora, na medida em que é preciso levar os alunos a pensarem a escrita de forma significativa na sociedade da qual fazem parte, considerando a multimodalidade dos gêneros textuais, assim como o engajamento dos indivíduos em diferentes comunidades de prática. Esse desafio fica ainda maior quando envolve o uso da tecnologia, já que não se pode excluí-la da sala de aula. O gênero roteiro de documentário é uma possibilidade de promover a produção de textos aliada ao uso da tecnologia. Assim, o trabalho a ser apresentado teve como foco compreender a repercussão da adoção do Projeto Didático de Gênero como metodologia ativa, no processo de ensino e aprendizagem dos alunos, no tocante ao desenvolvimento dos letramentos e à construção de sua identidade dentro das comunidades de prática em que atua, quando esse dispositivo de ensino possibilita a legitimação de comunidades de prática em sala de aula. Dessa forma, também reforça a importância do papel do professor de Língua Materna como mediador do desenvolvimento dos letramentos, por meio da interação, inclusive em meios digitais, em uma perspectiva socialmente inclusiva e crítica. Como base teórica, o estudo apresenta a concepção social de aprendizagem, o conceito de comunidades de prática a partir de Wenger (2001), os estudos de letramentos, de acordo com Street (2008, 2012), Barton & Lee (2015), Kleiman (1995, 2007, 2014), bem como o Projeto Didático de Gênero enquanto dispositivo de ensino (Guimarães e Kersch, 2014, 2015), que tem como pano de fundo o Interacionismo Sociodiscursivo de Bronckart (2009). Por meio da análise das produções realizadas ao longo do projeto, foi possível perceber a evolução dos alunos no que se refere ao domínio do gênero e aos diferentes letramentos. Tais avanços não foram desenvolvidos individualmente, mas sim de forma coletiva. Por isso, foi possível avaliar que esses estudantes constituíram comunidades de prática, entendidas aqui como fundamentais para a construção dos conhecimentos que estiverem em jogo. / Producing texts at school is a challenging task, since it is necessary to lead students to think about writing in a meaningful way in the society in which they are part of, considering the multimodalities of the text genres as well as people´s engagement in different communities of practice. This challenge becomes even greater when it involves the use of technology. After all, it cannot be excluded from the classroom. The documentary script genre is a possibility to promote the production of texts allied to technology use. Thus, the work to be presented focused on to understand the repercussion of the adoption of a Didactic Project with text genres, as an active methodology in the teaching and learning process of the students, regarding the development of literacy and the construction of their identity, when this teaching device enables the legitimation of communities of practice in the classroom. Thereby, it also reinforces the importance of mother tongue teacher´s role as mediator of the development of literacy through interaction, including digital media, in a social perspective. As theoretical basis, the study presents the social conception of learning, the concept of communities of practice from Wenger (2001), the literacy studies according to Street (2008, 2012), Barton & Lee (2015), Kleiman (1995, 2007,2014), as well as the Didactic Project of text genres as a teaching device (Guimarães and Kersch, 2014,2015), that has Bronckart's Sociodiscursive Interactionism (2009) as its background. Through the analysis of the productions carried out throughout the project, it was possible to perceive students´evolution with regard to the genre and the different literacies. Such advances were not developed individually but collectively. Therefore, it was possible to evaluate that these students constituted communities of practice, understood here as for the construction of knowledge that was at stake.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-07-06T13:02:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 José Jerônimo de Menezes Lima.pdf: 1888440 bytes, checksum: aa54ca9f171e17e14a874a7eabfe31b7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-06T13:02:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 José Jerônimo de Menezes Lima.pdf: 1888440 bytes, checksum: aa54ca9f171e17e14a874a7eabfe31b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-22 / Nenhuma / O objeto de estudo desta tese é a análise dos efeitos de Comunidades de Prática (CoPs) na Capacidade Absortiva (CA) em Empresas Intensivas em Conhecimento (EICs). Esta pesquisa se situa no campo de estudos de comportamento organizacional e trata dos temas da Gestão do Conhecimento (GC) e Aprendizagem Organizacional (AO). Nessa direção, a principal contribuição desta tese é de natureza teórica e visa analisar os fatores de funcionamento dos processos de CoPs que podem contribuir para a CA em EICs avaliando a real contribuição desses fatores, visando orientar a criação e operacionalização de CoPs eficazes nessas empresas. A tese tem por pressuposto que EICs têm processos essencialmente baseados na GC; AO é fundamental para a eficácia da GC em EICs, uma vez que viabiliza o compartilhamento e a assimilação do conhecimento para a inovação e a solução de problemas; CoPs, no contexto de EICs, ao agregarem conhecimentos, pessoas, processos e tecnologias, facilitam a AO; e, ao facilitar a AO, CoPs contribuem para a CA em EICs. A partir dessas premissas, esta tese responder à seguinte questão de pesquisa: Quais são os efeitos de comunidades de prática na capacidade absortiva em empresas intensivas em conhecimento? Nessa direção, foram estabelecidas as seguintes hipóteses: CoPs são mecanismos que facilitam a dimensão Aquisição do processo da Capacidade Absortiva Potencial (CAp) em EICs (H1), CoPs são mecanismos que facilitam a dimensão Assimilação do processo da CAp em EICs (H2); CoPs são mecanismos que facilitam a dimensão Transformação do processo de Capacidade Absortiva Realizada (CAr) em EICs (H3), CoPs são mecanismos que facilitam a dimensão Aplicação do processo de CAr em EICs (H4) e CoPs são mecanismos que facilitam a CAr por decorrência da CAp em EICs (H5). Este estudo utilizou métodos de pesquisa online e partiu de uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória baseada em netnografia, em seguida realizou pesquisa quantitativa baseada em survey e, finalmente, foi realizada pesquisa qualitativa confirmatória com gestores de CoPs e de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (P&D) das EICs estudadas. Foram pesquisadas 10 EICs, abrangendo 90 CoPs e 9.998 participantes. A pesquisa coletou 1.104 respostas. Um modelo teórico foi desenvolvido e testado por Modelagem de Equações Estruturais (MEE) para validar as hipóteses formuladas. Especificamente analisando os efeitos de CoPs na CA em EICs, a pesquisa confirma que CoPs são mecanismos eficazes de CAp, maximizando as atividades de aquisição e assimilação de conhecimentos externos e assim contribuindo diretamente para a CAp (H1 e H2). Por outro lado, não confirma que CoPs são mecanismos eficazes de CAr, e que as atividades de transformação e aplicação de conhecimentos externos pouco ou nem sempre contribuem diretamente para a inovação (H3 e H4). Ainda, a pesquisa confirma a ideia de que CoPs são mecanismos que, ao contribuírem de modo eficaz diretamente para a CAp, colaboram indiretamente para a eficácia da CAr (H5). Espera-se que esta tese tenha trazido mais luz à discussão sobre a possibilidade de que CoPs sejam considerados espaços privilegiados de aprendizagem organizacional e de articulação de saberes para melhorar CA e gerar inovação em EICs. / The object of study of this dissertation is the analysis of the effects of Communities of Practice (CoPs) on the Absorptive Capacity (AC) in Intensive Knowledge Companies (IKCs). This research lies within the field of organizational behavior studies related to Knowledge Management (KM) and Organizational Learning (OL). In this direction, the main contribution of this thesis is theoretical in nature and aims at analyzing the dynamic factors of CoPs processes that can be contributory to AC in IKCs evaluating the real contribution of these factors aiming at guiding creation and implementation of more effective CoPs in this type of company. This thesis, on principle, begins according to the following assumptions: that IKCs have essentially processes based on KM; OL is key to the effectiveness of KM in IKCs, as it enables the sharing and assimilation of knowledge for innovation and problem solving in groups; as CoPs, in the context of IKCs, aggregate knowledge, people, processes and technologies, they provide grounds to OL; and as doing so, they contribute to AC in IKCs. From these premises, this thesis searched to answer the following research question: what are the effects of CoPs in the AC in IKCs? In this direction, the following hypotheses were established: CoPs are mechanisms that facilitate the acquisition process of Potential Absorptive Capacity Process (PAC) in IKCs (H1); CoPs are mechanisms that enable the assimilation process of the PAC in IKCs (H2); CoPs are mechanisms that facilitate the transformation process of Accomplished Absorptive Capacity (AAC) in IKCs (H3); CoPs are mechanisms that facilitate the application process of the AAC in IKCs (H4); and CoPs are mechanisms that pave the way to the AAC by a result of PAC in IKCs (H5). This study used methods of online survey and came from an exploratory qualitative research based on netnography, then it conducted a quantitative survey-based research, and finally a qualitative research to confirm or disprove it with moderators and administrators of CoPs and managers of R&D of the IKCs. Ten IKCs were surveyed, covering 90 CoPs, 9,998 participants. The survey had an amount of 1,104 responses. A theoretical model was developed and tested by structural equation modeling to validate the hypotheses formulated research. Analyzing specifically the effects of CoPs in AC on IKCs, it can point out that the research confirms the idea that CoPs are effective mechanisms for PAC, maximizing the acquisition and assimilation activities of external knowledge and thus contributing directly to PAC (H1 and H2). On the other hand, this research does not confirm the idea that CoPs are effective mechanisms of AAC, and that the transformation and application activities of external knowledge little or hardly ever directly contribute to innovation (H3 and H4). Still, research confirms the idea that CoPs are mechanisms which, at the same time, contribute effectively straightforward to PAC, and collaborate indirectly to the effectiveness of the AAC (H5).