The Relationship Between Epistemic Beliefs and Design Knowledge Contribution in an Online Community of Practice

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between individuals’ levels of expertise, epistemic beliefs, and their contributions to an online community of practice. The studied community was hosted by a firm and consisted of members in the graphic/Web design professions. Findings supported a four-factor structure of design-focused epistemic beliefs. However, Attainability of Design Knowledge and Contextual Factuality of Design Knowledge had low internal consistency. Results indicated that belief in Consistency of Design Knowledge well explains the quality and quantity of individuals’ contributions. Individuals with weaker beliefs provided higher quality of content. Findings are discussed with regard to their implications for both theories and designs of online communities of practice.

Author

• Yating Teng, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences