Exploratory Analysis of Factors Affecting Participation in Air Force Knowledge Now Communities of Practice

As the AF continues to lose its knowledge base through retirements and downsizing, the need to get maximum use from the remaining knowledge base becomes increasingly important. In their efforts to help the Department of Defense and the Air Force Chief Information Officer (AFCIO) meet their knowledge management goals, Air Force Material Command (AFMC) has been working to implement the use of communities of practice. A primary goal of AFMC/DRW , the AF Knowledge Now program office, and the office of the AFCIO is to increase effectiveness and participation within communities of practice. The goal of this research is to identify factors from the literature that may affect knowledge transfer, information sharing, and technology acceptance, and compare those factors with AFKN hosted communities of practice (CoPs) exhibiting high and low levels of participation. Additionally, factors of interest identified in interviews with AFKN personnel will be researched. This research used a cross- sectional research instrument to survey CoP members within all AFKN hosted CoPs containing 20 or more members. This research suggests there are differences in the way members within high and low use CoPs perceive these factors: trust, willingness to share information, job fit, outcome expectations, social factors, facilitating conditions, anonymity, security constraints, knowledge champion, facilitator. The results of these findings may allow AFKN to focus on these factors when the goal is to improve participation in future CoPs.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH School of Engineering and Management is the author of 'Exploratory Analysis of Factors Affecting Participation in Air Force Knowledge Now Communities of Practice', published 2004 under ISBN 9781423519058 and ISBN 1423519051.