abstract: The purpose of this action research study was to examine how membership within a virtual community of practice impacted individual professional development, knowledge exchange practices, and self-efficacy. The G-3/5/7 virtual community of practice (VCoP) website was created to provide members with access to a wide range of career-related content, while also bestowing them with the level of volition needed to be completely in control of when and how they consume content. Feedback from early cycles of research suggested the pilot version of the VCoP wasn’t perceived as user-friendly and didn’t provide a broad range of professional development-related content. Thus, the layout of the VCoP was completely redesigned, and content offerings in the content repository and on website pages were broadened. This action research study is grounded in social cognitive theory, social cognitive career theory, and the community of practice framework. Reviewed literature includes studies pertaining to mutual engagement within social learning environments, facilitating professional development, sustaining communities of practice, and implementing virtual communities of practice. Participants in this study included a combination of Department of the Army civilian and military employees. Over the course of 14 weeks, these employees were invited to voluntarily join the G-3/5/7 VCoP and freely access and use the site for any reason they deemed necessary. At the end of the 14-week period, participants completed a questionnaire and participated in semi-structured interviews. The result of the study revealed members generally found the G-3/5/7 VCoP website to be user-friendly. They also believed the website could help them accomplish professional development goals, exchange knowledge with peers, and produce higher quality work more efficiently. The analysis of results includes discussion on the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data and connects results to the literature that influenced this study. Also, lessons learned, study limitations, implications for practice, and recommendations for future action research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

Weblogging is an Internet social practice that became known as a technology. This project investigated weblogging (blogging) as an example of a media technology that arose under particular historical circumstances. To investigate this, blogs were examined in detail, participant-observation was used to construct and run a blog, and practicing bloggers were interviewed. The study found that blogging, like all technology, originates within existing social practice (context); has a diffusion process that causes it to spread between people (Geek-Chic); and leads to certain social outcomes (Personal Community). This is seen as a general pattern for the lifecycle of technology, serving to argue the case that shifts in social practice lead to technology, not the other way around.

網際網路的出現，使得人際社會得以在虛擬的環境下發展。將近半個世紀的孕育，虛擬的社群逐漸成為許多網路族每日生活的一部份，近年來電子商務盛行，虛擬社群更躍為網路公司從事電子商務的重要平台之一，因為社群的分群特性，自然而然地形成特定的市場區隔，有利於網際網路行銷之推展。然而儘管專家與實務經驗說明虛擬社群的發展需要會員的互動，事實上許多網路社群卻都因為缺乏互動，在尚未形成區隔之前便已宣告解體。 本研究嘗試將個人化技術應用在虛擬社群的環境中，首先由相關文獻中瞭解目前虛擬社群的評估指標、個人化技術的操作層次、項目與技術觀點，以及忠誠度的涵意，再建立實驗系統，以實地實驗的方式進行分組實驗操控。在實驗過程中搜集相關資料作為評估行為忠誠的資料來源，並於最後以問卷調查會員之滿意度與認知忠誠。在資料整理後進行時間數列等統計分析，以瞭解實驗社群發展的狀況與操控的效果。 研究結果顯示，個人化技術能有效促進會員互動，使社群的環境能快速形成，而運用推播技術則能使網站與會員的關係延長，當社群發展漸趨於穩定時，推播促使會員重複造訪網站。此外，本研究亦說明了行為忠誠與認知忠誠兩層次忠誠度的涵意，並指出社群會員即使具有認知上忠誠，卻未必在行為上具有忠誠的現象。最後提出進一步的研究建議，作為實務與後續研究之參考。

<p>I denna c- uppsats har en undersökning gjorts om interaktionen och samspelet mellan medlemmarna på ett forum som är ett av de främsta diskussionsforumen för homo- och bisexuella föräldrar/blivande homo- och bisexuella föräldrar. Syftet med undersökningen var att är få ökad insikt om den sociala interaktionen på forumet med hjälp av dessa tre frågeställningar: Hur ser interaktionen/samspelet ut mellan medlemmarna på forumet? Går det att utläsa särskilda teman utifrån inläggen? På vilket sätt kan forumet tänkas vara till någon hjälp för medlemmarna?</p><p>Den teoretiska ramen för denna uppsats innefattar Stephen P. Robbins kommunikationsprocessteori, interaktionsspiralen som beskrivs av Sven Windahl, Signitzer & Olson, Jonathan H. Turners teori om sociala processer, samt en del av Hartmut B. Mokros teori om sociala strukturer och processer på makro respektive mikronivå.</p><p>I den här studien har jag använt mig av en kvalitativ metod avsedd för internetforskning, virtuell etnografi. Denna metod är en tillämpningsmetod utifrån etnografiska metoder där jag använt mig av bland annat Malin Sveningssons bok ”Att fånga nätet- kvalitativa metoder för Internetforskning”. En kompletterande<strong> </strong>e- mejl intervju med webbmastern för forumet, hemsidan, har också gjorts. I mitt forskningsmaterial har jag gjort ett strategiskt kriteriebaserat urval från forumet, där jag valde ut fem diskussionstrådar med flest inlägg som totalt innefattade 62 inlägg. Detta för att ge läsaren ökad förståelse om interaktion på forumet utan att tänja på de etiska restriktionerna gällande anonymitetsskydd.</p><p>Resultatet visade bland annat på att fyra teman kunde utläsas i de samtliga diskussionstrådarna. Nämligen: Presentation av sig själv, beskrivning/berättelse om situation, information/råd och tips, återkoppling/svar från medlem som startat diskussionstråd.</p><p>Ett aktivt informationsutbyte sker på forumet. Informationen som delas rör frågor om barngörarprocessen i samkönade relationer. Forumet är nödvändigt för medlemmarna som lever i samkönade relationer och har funderingar kring barnfrågor.</p> / <p>In this essay an examination was made of the interaction and interplay between the members of a forum which is one of the main discussion forums for gay and bisexual parents/gay and bisexual couples in process of becoming parents. The study aimed to gain further insight about the social interaction on the forum using these three questions at issue: What are the interactions / interplay between the members in the forum? Is it possible to deduce specific themes based on the postings? How can the forum in question be helpful for the members?</p><p>The theoretical framework for this essay includes Stephen P Robbins communication process theory, the interaction spiral described by Sven Windahl, Signitzer & Olson, Jonathan H. Turner's theory about social processes, and part of Hartmut B. Mokros theory about social structures and processes on macro and micro level.</p><p>In this study I have used a qualitative method for Internet research, virtual ethnography. This method is a methodological practice with roots from ethnographic methods. My methodological startingpoint has been Malin Sveningssons book “Att fånga nätet- kvalitativa metoder för Internetforskning”. An additional e-mail interview with the webmaster of the website and the forum was also made. In my research material a strategic criteria-based selection from the forum was made. I picked out five discussion topics with the most posts, which included a total of 62 posts. This selection was made to give the reader a greater understanding about the interaction in the forum without stretching the ethical restrictions regarding anonymity.</p><p>The results showed, among other things, that four themes could be inferred in all discussion threads: Presentation of oneself, description / narrative about the situation, information / advice and tips, feedback / response from the member who started the discussion thread. An active exchange of information takes place on the forum. The information shared amongst the members concerns issues about the process in having children in same-sex relationships. The forum is necessary for members considering or thinking about having children in same-sex relationships.</p>

Virtuelle Communities bezeichnen Gemeinschaften von Individuen, die maßgeblich über das Internet miteinander kommunizieren und kollaborieren. Anders als in Unternehmen, in denen Motivationsstrukturen primär auf finanziellen Anreizen basieren, gilt für Virtuelle Communities, dass die Zuarbeit in diesen in der Regel freiwillig und ohne monetäre Interessen der Mitglieder stattfindet. Unternehmen nutzen Virtuelle Communities für Zwecke des Customer Relationship Management, des Wissensmanagement und des Customer Integration. Universitäten bilden virtuelle Lernnetzwerke, um die Interaktion zwischen Studierenden zu erhöhen und hierdurch Lernerfolge zu steigern. Die Potenziale Virtueller Communities werden jedoch in vielen Fällen nicht vollständig ausgeschöpft. Insbesondere der Frage nach einer systematischen Mitgliedersteuerung kommt aufgrund der vorherrschenden komplexen Motivationsstrukturen der freiwillig partizipierenden Mitglieder eine besondere Bedeutung zu. In bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten wurde dieser Aspekt jedoch vernachlässigt. Das Untersuchungsdesign der Arbeit zielt darauf ab, diese Forschungslücke zu schließen und einen Ordnungsrahmen zu gestalten, der einen systematischen Aufbau, Betrieb und insbesondere eine Steuerung Virtueller Communities ermöglicht. Die Identifikation von Steuerungsinstrumenten wurde im Rahmen der Arbeit durch eine Analyse der Strukturen und Funktionsweisen in Open Source-Projekten vorgenommen, anschließend wurden diese auf andere Typen Virtueller Communities übertragen. Im Rahmen zweier Fallstudien wurde der entwickelte Ordnungsrahmen unter realen Bedingungen an einem Expertennetzwerk an der Börse Berlin AG und einem universitären Lernnetzwerk erprobt. Die anschließende Analyse gibt Aufschluss über die Wirkungsweisen wettbewerblicher, kooperativer und hierarchischer Steuerungsinstrumente in Virtuellen Communities. / A virtual community can be understood as a group of people sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings by using the internet or other collaborative networks. In contrast to companies where contributors are mainly motivated by financial incentives, virtual communities are based on voluntarily participation and non-monetary benefits. Companies build up virtual communities to support customer relationship management, customer integration or knowledge management. Universities use virtual learning communities to increase knowledge transfer among students. However, the potential of virtual communities can not completely tapped without efficient and systematic approaches of community engineering. Members usually participate voluntarily in virtual community and therefore are characterized by a complex motivational structure. This aspect has not been discussed in scientific literature intensively. The research design of this contribution aims on developing a framework that can be used to systematically build up a virtual community. By analyzing open source projects several instruments of member management were identified and transferred to different types of virtual communities. By developing a case study design the practical relevance of the theoretical model was measured. A network of experts at Berlin stock exchange and a learning network at University of Potsdam were analysed. Surveys, interviews as well as data examinations were used to evaluate the effects of instruments of a systematic member management and different types of coordination such as hierarchy, competition and cooperation.

In recent years, many virtual communities have thrived with the rapid development of Internet. In the environment of virtual community, through the information exchange, members realize that they often have similar demands. In the case of online group-buying, buyers who have a common interest in a certain product group together to collect their collective power and thus get price discounts from suppliers. Hence online group-buying comprehends the need of interest, relationship, and transaction of virtual community. We are questioning whether the group-buying have invisible community relationships embedded in members¡¦ transaction activities. The purpose of this study is by the use of social network analysis to investigate the relationships of the network between initiators and participants and between co-participants. In particular we propose some measures based on social network analysis to help us understand the meanings of relationships of online group-buying network. According to the result of this study, we find the initiators have more power or resources to influence other members of the network between initiators and participants. And some active participants also have more power or resources to influence other participants of the network between co-participants. We also find the active initiators and participants would have more probability to occupy key positions of information flow.

The rapid growth of network access and the development of Web 2.0 have resulted in the popularity of virtual communities (VCs), such as Wikipedia, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Although these online communities provide no monetary incentive for sharing knowledge, as most businesses will do, they still become a popular platform for knowledge sharing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivation for people to contribute in virtual communities, whether their motivations differ in different types of virtual communities, and whether their behavior and motivations will be affected by monetary reward. Social exchange theory and self determination theory were adopted to explore the relationships between behavior and motivations of virtual community members. Motivation crowding theory was used to examine the effect of monetary reward on knowledge sharing. The research framework includes two types of motivators (intrinsic and extrinsic), two different virtual community types (common identity vs. common bond), and one treatment (monetary reward). An online survey and an experiment with monetary incentive were conducted on two virtual communities: ITToolbox and LinkedIn. The results showed that there were significant moderating effects between these two types of virtual communities. A strong positive relationship was found between intrinsic motivation and knowledge sharing for the professional community (common identity). In contrast, the relationship between extrinsic motivation and knowledge sharing was stronger in the social networking community (common bond). The results also confirmed the existence of the crowding effect that the intrinsic motivation was significantly declined when an extrinsic monetary reward was provided.

This study investigate how the players' virtual community citizenship behavior were influence by online social identity and impression management of online game discussion forum. A questionnaire was designed for the online survey that resulted in a total of 692 valid responses. The results suggested that the player were more spontaneous involved in organizational citizenship behavior when they had higher identity on discussion forum. The player had more positive action in organizational citizenship behavior when they had higher attention on self impression management. This research is different from those past gaming community researches focus on the user's addiction and motivation, and give suggestions for future research.

With the rapid growth of virtual communities, more and more group-buying are now held within the communities. However, no study discusses the effect of virtual communities on group-buying. Comparing to other transaction modes, it is easier for consumers to aggregate their demands in virtual communities. The coherence and trust among community members, at the same time, further reduce potential risks in transactions. This study aims to understand factors that affect consumer intentions to join group-buying within the virtual communities and to develop a comprehensive framework. The results indicate that perceived trust in group-buying initiator and perceived trust in other community members are the main factors that influence consumers¡¦ intention to join. Their perceived risk, at the same, has no significant effect. Furthermore, consumers¡¦ involvement in the virtual community has the most effect on their perceived trust in initiators while their perceived trust in other members and the perceived expertise of the initiator are also critical factors. The results implies that the trust among members, which is resulted from their intense interactions, is the key factor of group-buying. The expertise of initiator, meanwhile, is not the critical determinant of group-buying.

I denna c- uppsats har en undersökning gjorts om interaktionen och samspelet mellan medlemmarna på ett forum som är ett av de främsta diskussionsforumen för homo- och bisexuella föräldrar/blivande homo- och bisexuella föräldrar. Syftet med undersökningen var att är få ökad insikt om den sociala interaktionen på forumet med hjälp av dessa tre frågeställningar: Hur ser interaktionen/samspelet ut mellan medlemmarna på forumet? Går det att utläsa särskilda teman utifrån inläggen? På vilket sätt kan forumet tänkas vara till någon hjälp för medlemmarna? Den teoretiska ramen för denna uppsats innefattar Stephen P. Robbins kommunikationsprocessteori, interaktionsspiralen som beskrivs av Sven Windahl, Signitzer &amp; Olson, Jonathan H. Turners teori om sociala processer, samt en del av Hartmut B. Mokros teori om sociala strukturer och processer på makro respektive mikronivå. I den här studien har jag använt mig av en kvalitativ metod avsedd för internetforskning, virtuell etnografi. Denna metod är en tillämpningsmetod utifrån etnografiska metoder där jag använt mig av bland annat Malin Sveningssons bok ”Att fånga nätet- kvalitativa metoder för Internetforskning”. En kompletterande e- mejl intervju med webbmastern för forumet, hemsidan, har också gjorts. I mitt forskningsmaterial har jag gjort ett strategiskt kriteriebaserat urval från forumet, där jag valde ut fem diskussionstrådar med flest inlägg som totalt innefattade 62 inlägg. Detta för att ge läsaren ökad förståelse om interaktion på forumet utan att tänja på de etiska restriktionerna gällande anonymitetsskydd. Resultatet visade bland annat på att fyra teman kunde utläsas i de samtliga diskussionstrådarna. Nämligen: Presentation av sig själv, beskrivning/berättelse om situation, information/råd och tips, återkoppling/svar från medlem som startat diskussionstråd. Ett aktivt informationsutbyte sker på forumet. Informationen som delas rör frågor om barngörarprocessen i samkönade relationer. Forumet är nödvändigt för medlemmarna som lever i samkönade relationer och har funderingar kring barnfrågor. / In this essay an examination was made of the interaction and interplay between the members of a forum which is one of the main discussion forums for gay and bisexual parents/gay and bisexual couples in process of becoming parents. The study aimed to gain further insight about the social interaction on the forum using these three questions at issue: What are the interactions / interplay between the members in the forum? Is it possible to deduce specific themes based on the postings? How can the forum in question be helpful for the members? The theoretical framework for this essay includes Stephen P Robbins communication process theory, the interaction spiral described by Sven Windahl, Signitzer &amp; Olson, Jonathan H. Turner's theory about social processes, and part of Hartmut B. Mokros theory about social structures and processes on macro and micro level. In this study I have used a qualitative method for Internet research, virtual ethnography. This method is a methodological practice with roots from ethnographic methods. My methodological startingpoint has been Malin Sveningssons book “Att fånga nätet- kvalitativa metoder för Internetforskning”. An additional e-mail interview with the webmaster of the website and the forum was also made. In my research material a strategic criteria-based selection from the forum was made. I picked out five discussion topics with the most posts, which included a total of 62 posts. This selection was made to give the reader a greater understanding about the interaction in the forum without stretching the ethical restrictions regarding anonymity. The results showed, among other things, that four themes could be inferred in all discussion threads: Presentation of oneself, description / narrative about the situation, information / advice and tips, feedback / response from the member who started the discussion thread. An active exchange of information takes place on the forum. The information shared amongst the members concerns issues about the process in having children in same-sex relationships. The forum is necessary for members considering or thinking about having children in same-sex relationships.