Article Analysis Essay on Fostering the Determinants of Knowledge Sharing in Professional Virtual Communities

Introduction

Technology has not only brought in new devices and new systems but has also brought in new means and methods by which people work and interact together. One of the main approaches and ways in which it has created new opportunities for interaction is through the establishment of professional virtual communities. Professional virtual communities are groups of professionals who interact primarily through the use of ICT. While they have existed for a long period of time, very minimal research on these groups. The article "Fostering the determinants of knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities" by Lin, Hung & Chen (2009) sought out to assess the main determinants that are important to foster knowledge sharing within the PVCs.

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Findings and Contributions

The study investigates and describes the existing relationship between the contextual factors, the individual perception of knowledge sharing, the behavior of knowledge sharing and loyalty within the PVC community. In a study that employed empirical data from a set of three PVCs, the results clearly depicted that trust greatly influences self-efficacy of the members to knowledge sharing, the perceived relative advantage, and benefit as well as the perceived compatibility thereby having a considerable impact on the knowledge sharing behavior. As such, the study suggests that the factors identified above significantly impact on the ability of organizations, supervisors and the employers in ensuring continuous sharing of information and knowledge within the organization.

Critique of the Study

It is clear from the abstract that the matter raised in the paper is not a simple issue and one that needs a comprehensive approach in solving it. In fact, the topic and the abstract are by themselves a little confusing, making it difficult to establish the main issue of the research paper. It is unclear from the topic on what the research attempts to meet. However, even though the issue is a complicated issue, the research has been conducted in a manner to effectively meet the stated goals. It is however imperative to note that the research also includes a set of challenges and limitations that affect the work of research.

The work of research comes at a time when the adoption of technology is almost at its peak. Today, most organizations and companies have leveraged the power of technology not only in their operations, but also in their human resource. Virtual teams have become one of the most efficient and effective way of operation for many organizations today. In this understanding, the work of research has been conducted at the time when it is highly required and relevant. With regard to the structure of the research, the researcher have made great efforts in ensuring adherence to the standards of a good research. First, the researchers apply the use of the available literature to establish and formulate the hypothesis for the research. The research model section is entirely set to establish and derive the main hypotheses used within the work of research.

Operational Definition and Measurement

One of the main challenges of the work of research is that it fails to provide definitions to the main terms utilized within the article. The work of research employs the use of online surveys for collection of data from the respondents. Although this method of data collection is significantly beneficial for researchers, it also introduces a set of challenges and limitations which may significantly impact the credibility, reliability and validity of the work of research. One of the major challenges associated with online surveys is the possible cooperation challenges and problems. Because of the many different obstacles present on the internet, there exists many challenges in the respondents cooperating in the filling of the surveys. Secondly, the lack of an interviewer also possess some challenges regarding offering the respondents with clarifications on issues of the questionnaire. Finally, online surveys have a major sampling problems. In these considerations, it is imperative to understand that the effect of these challenges translates to the results of the research and thereby to the credibility of the work of research.

In addition to the above issues, online surveys have been observed to pose major challenges in the consideration of the validity of the results and findings obtained. In comparison to in-person surveys, online surveys are not considered as valid and reliable. According to the research study by Wiersma(2014), online surveys are faced with a set of challenges and limitations, most of which significantly affect the reliability and validity of the findings of the research. For instance, the researchers argue that display challenges and limitations make it difficult for some individuals to correctly answer the questions thus limiting the reliability of the findings obtained. Online surveys may be significantly biased if participants holding particular views and perceptions regarding the issue of research are motivated towards participating in the study. Adopting an approach in which all the respondents are from one country biases the findings and responses of the work of the research towards the challenges of PVCs in the particular country considered.

Sample and Sampling Method

The main challenge and limitation with the work of research is the small sample utilized in the research. According to the research article, the researchers collected information from three PVC. While Small (2009) explained that sampling is one of the most difficult and contentious issues in qualitative research design. A sample of three is considerably low to enable the researchers perform generalization of the results and findings obtained from the study. It is clear that while the population under consideration is large, a sample of two groups is significantly low for the generalization of the research findings. The challenges and impediments on data collection establishes a break in the information cycle. Inadequate data derived from the inadequate sample of respondents impedes advocacy on behalf of the larger population, restricting the capacity of the work of research being considered valid, reliable and credible for the particular population. In this understanding, the absence of sufficient data can perpetuate the lack of trust from the population in consideration. In addition to this, while the research population spans around the world, it is inadequate to generalize the findings collected from the same country as a representative of the many countries in the world.

Statistical Analysis

A major benefit of the work of research arises from the adoption of computerized analysis of the collected data. According to the work of research, the data collected from the surveys was analyzed using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) data analysis software. Though computerized analysis of data have received a significant attention and focus primarily on the many advantages, it has also received critics particularly when used in qualitative researches. John & Johnson (2010) claims that computerized analysis impacts qualitative researches negatively primarily due to their increased pressure on the researchers towards focusing on the volume and breadth of the data rather than on the depth of the meaning of the data. Clearly visible within the research article is that the analysis have been conducted as a quantitative study, while in fact, the research is a qualitative research. In this understanding, the method of analysis can be argued as being inappropriate for the particular study. For the particular research, constant comparison of the findings, for instance, would have played a rather significant role as it would ensure an in-depth assessment of the collected data and the retrieval of meaning from such data.

Credibility, Future Value and Recommendations

Despite the above challenges and limitations, the research, together with its findings offer a unique and highly important data and knowledge for today's as well as future use. It is obvious that technology is growing and its adoption within the business world is also on increase. It can therefore be argued that with globalization, increased interaction among people as well as the growth and development of social media, PVCs are expected to grow both in popularity as well as in utilization. Establishing an understanding into the main ways and approaches through which the sharing of knowledge can be enhanced within these groups will as such play a crucial role in ensuring the development of the members of the teams as well as ease training of these teams. Particularly, this is beneficial for the organizations and businesses as it will ease the training and development of the PVCs, enhance their ability to leverage the ability, skills and knowledge of the team members, and establish a community of learning and benefiting while at the same time reducing the cost of maintaining these teams.

References

John, W. & Johnson, P. (2010). The pros and cons of data analysis software for qualitative research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 32 (4), 393 - 397.

Lin, M., Hung, S. & Chen, C. (2009). Fostering the determinants of knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(1), 929 - 939.

Small, M. (2009). How many cases do I need? On science and the logic of case selection in field-based research.Ethnography, 10(1),5-38.

Wiersma, W. (2014). The Validity of Surveys: Online and Offline. Retrieved 11th June 2018, from http://wybowiersma.net/pub/essays/Wiersma,Wybo,The_validity_of_surveys_online_and_offline.pdf