Rocco Agrifoglio

Communities of Practice and Practice Preservation: A Case Study

Several studies stressed that communities of practice support organizational learning, innovation, and the development of members’ capabilities. People engaged in a technology-based community of practice do not just “use” a specific technology and its artefacts in order to achieve a given purpose or exploit a function. They recognise themselves as community members and share common values, ideas, knowledge, and opinions about the technological artefacts around which their community is built. The literature agrees that technological change might produce innovative dynamics within these communities by affecting the routines and practices of their members. However, technology change could encourage some people to build a community of practice in order to preserve the practice that took place before technological substitution. In this regard, people community as an instrument to preserve knowledge, rather than to create new. This study offers a preliminary delimitation of the concept of “practice preservation” and reports a study based on inductive approach in order to investigate this phenomenon: the case of MAME community.

Extending the DART model for social media

The DART framework is one of the most appreciated theoretical arguments about the co-creation of new products and services by firms with the support of customers. In the internet age, companies very often started using web and social media in order to develop and/or design their new products and services with the support of users. This spread innovation approach made the DART framework somehow incomplete (at least for this form of co-creation) owing to its scant attention to technology. The aim of this study is to extend the traditional DART framework with a fifth dimension: technology management. The study reports the case of ‘Lost in Google’, a web-series of an Italian independent video-making company. The analysis shows that technology management is equally as important as the other four dimensions in order to manage properly co-creation by social media. A revised version of this model (DARTT) should fit better for the understanding of this phenomenon.

Learning and Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities of Practice: A Case Study

The aim of this paper is to investigate how virtual communities of practice support learning and knowledge sharing among individuals. We focused on virtual professional communities, examining how they support learning and knowledge sharing. We conducted a descriptive and explanatory study analysing the case of the “Comunita dei giudici e delle procedure esecutive concorsuali”. Finally, we present a discussion on the findings.

What Do Local Governments Discuss in Social Media? An Empirical Analysis of the Italian Municipalities

This study takes a first step toward understanding the social media usage by Italian municipalities as a means for external communication. Using content analysis and posts categorization on the Facebook pages, we analyze topics of municipality posts to understand the communicative practices and types of use by municipalities. We examine the Facebook profiles of nine of the largest cities in Italy. The analysis is mainly based on a coding scheme that was derived from literature and findings show that the main communication topics between Italian local governments and citizens are provision of information, local events, local public services, and co-design.

Measuring the Success of E-Justice. A Validation of the DeLone and McLean Model

The aim of this chapter is to develop a research model to assess the success of e-justice applications in the Judicial System. Judicial System has been characterized by considerable investments in ICTs in order to improve court’s efficiency and effectiveness. Despite these investments, court performances did not increase and little research has been conducted to understand the reasons. Our research model adapts the DeLone and McLean’s IS success model and provides an useful contribute to understanding e-justice success.

ERP Acceptance: The Role of Affective Commitment

This study investigates the process of acceptance and use of ERP system by its users. The TAM is used as a starting point for this work. We assume that affective commitment directly also affects both the behavioral intention to ERP system use and it moderates the relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention. A survey methodology was used to gather data from an Italian public transport firm. Findings show the importance of affective commitment in determining acceptance and use behavior by users.

Investigating the Sailing Ship Effect as Newcomers’ Strategic Reaction to Technological Change

This paper is aimed at investigating the sailing ship effect as strategic reaction of newcomers that enter into a new market for adopting and improving old technology than new one when technological change occurs. Based on the case-study method, we conducted a qualitative analysis for collect data on a peculiar company, The Impossible Project, was born to meet the instant photo amateur needs after Polaroid stopped producing instant cameras. Unlike most of the incumbents’ and newcomers’ behaviors, the Impossible Project is a rare case of a company that entry into a new market niche for focusing on the old technology, than other one, when technological change occurs. This empirical evidence has shown an opposite strategic behavior to technological change, providing interesting insights for research and practice.

ASSESSING INDIVIDUAL LEARNING AND GROUP KNOWLEDGE IN A WIKI ENVIRONMENT: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The aim of this study was to investigate the collaborative learning in an online environment in order to assess the role of technology in determining individual learning of students. It describes the benefits of using a wiki in education and how it can allow students to work together to reach a common goal, giving them a sense of how writing can be effectively performed in collaboration. In collaborative learning with a wiki, students need to agree the structure, the contents, and the methods that are necessary to accomplish cooperative activities. The technology investigated is PBworks Education (PBwiki Edu), a collaborative tool that offers a variety of powerful information sharing and collaboration features in order to improve student’s learning activities. Respect than traditional in-class course, PBwiki Edu facilitates the communication and encourages collaborative finding, shaping and sharing of knowledge, all of which are essential properties for student’s learning process. A survey methodology was used in undergraduate students of “Management Information Systems” course who used PBwiki Edu for doing four reports concerning to case studies on specific lesson topics. With regard to these topics, we measured individual learning of students before (traditional learning) and after (online learning) any case study and compared these results through t-test method. Findings have shown significant differences between learning before and after case studies, pointing out the contribute of PBwiki Edu to student’s learning.

Virtual Environment and Collaborative Work: The Role of Relationship Quality in Facilitating Individual Creativity

The emergence of virtual environments that support collaborative work has inspired this study. We believe that relationship quality (TMX) among dispersed people positively affects individual creativity. We also assume that media used for interaction play a significant role in reinforcing social relationships. We conducted a pilot study on Ubuntu-it open source community. Findings suggest the key role of TMX in determining individual creativity, assuming a particular significant in the context investigated.

Preserving Knowledge Through Community of Practice: A Multiple Case Study

Knowledge Preservation (KP) is a crucial activity because provides individuals and organizations the basis for creating new knowledge and technical skills. Although some scholars have investigated KP within Community of Practice (CoP), less emphasis has been given to the process of KP as well as to the different ways. Thus, this study was aimed to investigate the KP within CoP. Based on case study method, it provides evidence on different ways and techniques by which tacit and explicit knowledge is preserved within two CoP.