Abstract

The sharing of knowledge between geographically distributed communities is an activity that is routinely undertaken in almost all large organizations but one that poses several problems for the researcher. This paper examines some of the key issues that need to be taken into account when undertaking research in this area. Its focus is knowledge sharing in the type of geographically distributed communities found in large multi-site and multi-national organizations. It highlights some of the conceptual problems associated with this type of knowledge sharing and presents a case study of an on-line knowledge sharing community in a large multi-national organization. It reflects on the issues raised by the literature and the case study and concludes by arguing that the search for generic solutions for these issues risks underplaying the importance of the diversity and plurality of viewpoints that are found in such groups

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