Organisational Innovation, Communities of Practice and Epistemic Communities: the Case of Linux

Abstract

A growing number of works in the literature consider the process of production and circulation of knowledge within the firm as is the key determinant of the capability of the organisation to innovate Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Leonard-Barton, 1995; von Krogh, Roos and Kleine, 1998, etc…). It is widely agreed that the “cognitive architecture” of knowledge within the firm (the way knowledge is produced, stored, exchanged, transmitted, retrieved) strongly influences the process of organisational learning, and in turn the innovative process. As Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) emphasised, the process of creation of knowledge within firms relies on two main dimensions; the first one is the “epistemological dimension”: the critical assumption is that human knowledge is created and expanded through social interaction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge (“knowledge conversion”); the second one is the “ontological dimension” which is concerned with the levels of knowledge creating entities (individual, group, organisational and inter-organisational). In line with the assumptions initially made by Argyris and Schon (1978), the organisation supports creative individuals or provides contexts for them to create knowledge.“Organizational knowledge creation therefore should be understood as a process that organizationally amplifies the knowledge created by individuals and crystallizes it as a part of the knowledge network of the organization. This process takes place within an ”expanding community of interaction“ which crosses intra and inter-organizational levels and boundaries”Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995. emphasised, the process of creation of knowledge within f1rms relies on two main dimensions; the first one is the “epistemological dimension”: the critical assumption is that human knowledge is created and expanded through social interaction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge (“knowledge conversion”); the second one is the “ontological dimension” which is concerned with the levels of knowledge creating entities (individual, group, organisational and inter-organisational). In line with the assumptions initially made by Argyris and Schon (1978), the organisation supports creative individuals or provides contexts for them to create knowledge.“Organizational knowledge creation, therefore, should be understood as a process that organizationally amplifies the knowledge created by individuals and crystallizes it as a part ofthe knowledge network of the organization. This process takes place within an ”expanding community of