The relationship between personal cognition, social context, and knowledge sharing in global communities of practice

The purpose of this study was to identify the structural pathways of personal cognition and social context as they influence knowledge sharing behaviors in communities of practice. Based on the existing literature, ten hypotheses and a conceptual model built on the basis of the social cognitive theory were developed regarding the interrelationships of the five constructs: self-efficacy for knowledge sharing, outcome expectations, sense of community, leadership of a community, and knowledge sharing. The data were collected through an online questionnaire from the employees who have participated in communities of practice in a Fortune 100 corporation. A total of 438 usable questionnaires were collected. Overall, three analyses were conducted in order to prove the given hypotheses: (a) hypothesized measurement model fit, (b) relational and influential associations among the constructs, and (c) structural equation model analysis (SEM). In addition, open-ended responses were analyzed. The results presented that (a) hypothesized measurement models were valid and reliable, (b) personal cognitive factors, self-efficacy and outcome expectations for knowledge sharing, were found to be significant predictors of community members’ sense of community and knowledge sharing behaviors, (c) sense of community had the most significant impact on the knowledge sharing, (d) as the perceived social context, sense of community mediated the effects of personal cognition on knowledge sharing behaviors, and (e) personal cognition and social context jointly contributed to knowledge sharing. In brief, all of the hypotheses were positively supported. A conclusive summary is provided along with contributive discussion. Implications and contributions to HRD researchers and practitioners are discussed, and recommendations are provided.

The Effects of the Project Approach on Children in Inclusive Early Childhood Classrooms

Research on the impact of the Project Approach on young children with disabilities or children who are at-risk is limited. Mixed methods were used to study the impact of the Project Approach on the social interactions, challenging behaviors, and language development of eight focal children in two inclusive classrooms. Child participants were two children with IEPs and two children identified as at-risk from each class. Adult participants were six professionals who received high quality supports to implement the Project Approach. Adults were interviewed prior to the beginning of the study and again mid-, and post-implementation. Choice time observations were videotaped twice per week over 14 weeks to assess the impact of the Project Approach on play levels and MLUm. Results revealed that social interactions, challenging behaviors, vocabulary, MLUm, were positively impacted following implementation of the Project Approach. Limitations of the study and suggestions for research and practice are discussed.