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Socialization and Reputation in Virtual Corporate Spaces: Confirming Identity and Reproducing Practice
Author(s) -
Dirksen Vanessa
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
anthropology of work review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.151
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1548-1417
pISSN - 0883-024X
DOI - 10.1525/awr.2005.26.2.24
Subject(s) - socialization , reputation , identity (music) , business , sociology , psychology , knowledge management , social psychology , computer science , aesthetics , social science , art
Transformative expectations of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) often do not agree with the reality of their appropriation in context. To investigate the divergence between discourse and praxis of ICTs, I performed an ethnographic study in a large Dutch IT firm where I followed a change project that was aimed at improving the organization's learning capabilities through the concept of virtual community. The research findings illustrate how the virtual community created to serve as an experiential learning exercise is appropriated instead as an arena for the manufacturing and display of status and as a reassurance of belonging.