VOSS: Creating Global, Multi-lateral, Knowledge-Sharing Communities of Practice

社会知识共享网络是组织成功的核心，但随着分布式全球组织的发展，许多公司都在努力应对建立和维护跨地域、学科、国家和文化边界的关系的挑战。本研究调查了跨国工程和建筑组织内的实践社区，以建立一个包容的、全球的、知识共享网络的理论。通过社会网络分析和定性访谈，研究团队将对知识连接形成驱动因素和知识流动模式进行理论化。现有技术允许我们绘制关系网络，本项目将更进一步，通过(1)识别和衡量地理位置、学科、商业实践和知识共享连接的产生的影响；(2)确定知识的中心来源和知识在网络中的定向流动；(3)分析和解释促进和阻碍组织内跨界知识共享连接创建的条件；(4)确定知识为何向特定方向流动。随着分布式国际组织的发展，鼓励企业内部知识转移的社会关系网络将会减弱，知识共享将变得越来越困难。更好地理解知识共享连接形成及其持续维护的驱动因素，可以提高我们应对重大社会和组织挑战的效率。本研究将推进全球、跨学科、基于技术的实践社区知识共享的社会科学理论，并为创建和维护多边知识共享联系提供建议，以加强跨国工程和建筑公司的跨学科实践社区。

Social knowledge sharing networks are central to organizational success, but with the growth in distributed global organizations, many firms are struggling with the challenge of creating and maintaining relationships that cross geographic, disciplinary, national, and cultural boundaries. This study investigates communities of practice within multinational engineering and construction organizations to build a theory of inclusive, global, knowledge sharing networks. Through social network analysis and qualitative interviews, the research team will theorize knowledge connection formation drivers and knowledge flow patterns. Existing techniques allow us to map networks of relationships, this project will go much further by (1) identifying and measuring the influence of geographic location, discipline, business practice, and generation on knowledge sharing connections; (2) determining the central sources of knowledge and directional flow of knowledge within the networks; (3) analyzing and explaining the conditions facilitating and impeding intra-organizational boundary-spanning knowledge sharing connection creation; and (4) determining why knowledge flows in a particular direction. As the movement toward distributed international organizations grows, the networks of social relationships that encourage the transfer of knowledge within a firm will weaken and knowledge sharing will become increasingly difficult. A better understanding of the drivers underlying the formation of knowledge-sharing connections and their ongoing maintenance can improve our effectiveness in addressing major societal and organizational challenges. This research will advance social science theory of knowledge sharing in global, interdisciplinary, technology-based communities of practice and provide recommendations for creating and maintaining multi-lateral knowledge sharing connections to enhance interdisciplinary communities of practice in multinational engineering and construction firms.