The Psychology of Blogging Communities: Social Identities and Knowledge Transfer Across Work-Groups

Abstract

In this article, we propose that blog communities can enhance knowledge transfer in organization. They do so by shaping bloggers' group (subordinate) and organizational (superordinate) identities, which affect knowledge sharing between members of different work-groups in an organization. Building on existing research on psychological identity and on knowledge transfer, we make the case for the benefits of integrating these two research streams; more important, we identify blogging communities as factors in shaping individuals' identities and potentially facilitating knowledge transfer within organizations.