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An ethnographic study of motivations to participate in, and contribute knowledge to, a hybrid-economic professional I.T. community
Dissertation   Open access

An ethnographic study of motivations to participate in, and contribute knowledge to, a hybrid-economic professional I.T. community

Warren S. Allen
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Jul 2013
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-7077
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Abstract

Communities of practice Peer review Information science
This dissertation explores motivations for knowledge sharing in the professional community oriented around the use, design, and engineering of Microsoft SharePoint. An original, mixed-methods ethnographic study identifies motivations to participate and contribute knowledge, and examines the sociotechnical structures that are both the product of diversely-motivated social action and the context in which participation and knowledge sharing is performed. A focus is placed on social information systems - information technologies designed and used to process information about the individual in order to mediate such social constructs as peer recognition and reputation - and the effect these systems have as rewards on problems of low levels and diverse types of participation. Results from a cultural consensus analysis survey finds that the opportunity to learn job-related skills, gain access to knowledgeable experts, and make and maintain social connections for personal and professional purposes were primary among motivations to participate. Additionally, data suggests a sub-culture may exist that runs contrary to the primary cultural beliefs in the community, believing instead that the pursuit of symbolic recognition and "fame" most-motivate participation. Socio-structural analysis identifies market- and commons-based structures in the SharePoint community, and finds that participation, its motivations, and the enacted structuration processes cannot be reduced to either market or commons structures. The SharePoint community is better understood as a hybrid-economic community that produces knowledge and knowledge-sharing contexts out of the complex relationship between market- and commons-based modalities. The study concludes with a critical analysis of the Microsoft MVP Award, a product of the hybrid-economic SharePoint community and a progenitor to social media-based social information systems for recognition, reputation, and reward. Findings raise specific issues for adopters of "Gamification" - a design paradigm in which game elements are introduced to non-game contexts - particularly concerning cases where social information systems are used as assessment methods or motivational devices. The study advances theory by introducing an alternative to the marketplace and the commons as social contexts for knowledge creation by explicating specific structuration processes underlying hybrid-economic knowledge sharing. Finally, the study contributes to the advancement of research methods by specifying a process for integrating qualitative and quantitative ethnographic data.

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