TY  - CHAP
AB  - The concept of a community form is drawn upon in many subfields of organizational theory. Although there is not much convergence on a level of analysis, there is convergence on a mode of action that is increasingly relevant to a knowledge-based economy marked by porous and shifting organizational boundaries. We argue that communities play an underappreciated role in organizational theory – critical not only to occupational identity, knowledge transfer, sense-making, social support, innovation, problem-solving, and collective action but also, enabled by information technology, increasingly providing socioeconomic value – in areas once inhabited by organizations alone. Hence, we posit that organizations may be in the shadow of communities. Rather than push for a common definition, we link communities to an organization's evolution: its birth, growth, and death. We show that communities represent both opportunities and threats to organizations and conclude with a research agenda that more fully accounts for the potential of community forms to be a creator (and a possible destroyer) of value for organizations.
VL  - 33
SN  - 978-1-78052-284-5, 978-1-78052-285-2/0733-558X
DO  - 10.1108/S0733-558X(2011)0000033004
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2011)0000033004
AU  - O'Mahony Siobhan
AU  - Lakhani Karim R.
ED  - Christopher Marquis
ED  - Michael Lounsbury
ED  - Royston Greenwood
PY  - 2011
Y1  - 2011/01/01
TI  - Organizations in the Shadow of Communities
T2  - Communities and Organizations
T3  - Research in the Sociology of Organizations
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 3
EP  - 36
Y2  - 2024/09/19
ER  -