Integration of Web 2.0 Tools for Non-Formal Learning Practices: A Study of IBM's Digital Spaces

2. Literature Review And Conceptual Framework

The last decade has been witness to a shift from the individual to the constructive and social aspect of knowledge in the existing epistemologies (Easterby-Smith & Lyles, 2003). Such a direct shift of focus onto the social nature of meaning and practice can result in the redefinition of the organisation itself as a community of practice (CoP), with organisational dimensions that convey meaning to these practices meaning.

The prominent scholars Lave and Wenger who firstly made a definition of CoP in their famous book with the title “Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation” studied how situated learning takes place as a result of the relationships built by “master practitioners” and “newcomers”. CoP‘s can also refer to places in which which “communicative action” occurs (Polanyi, 2002). The mutual creation of knowledge mediates these actions (Wenger, 2004). While CoP‘s function as a ground for knowledge creation and transfer (Lesser & Prusak, 2000; Wenger, 2004; Wenger & Snyder, 2000) they exist at the crossroads of intellectual and social capital. Within the current body of literature it is a common belief among scholars that CoP’s support the basis of social capital, which is mandatory for creating knowledge and its dissemination (Lesser & Prusak, 2000, p. 124).