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The information intensiveness of service firms coupled with the necessity to manage knowledge in the new economic era, render knowledge management initiatives critical for achieving competitive advantage. This case study identifies and analyses the social networking and knowledge creation capabilities and affordances of online forums to support tourism professionals. After reviewing the literature on knowledge creation, social networking and virtual communities, the case presents the social networking, information sharing, knowledge creation and idea generation capabilities of peer-to-peer virtual communities. The research methodology is explained, and the findings are presented. Finally, the practical implications are discussed and directions for future research are also provided.

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PurposeThe study seeks to examine the transformation of tacit knowledge (TK) into business performance by developing a two‐stage framework involving two processes: TK utilization and externalization.Design/methodology/approachOwing to the limited understanding and interest expressed by hotel professionals through a preliminary telephone survey, a mail survey targeting a representative sample of solely four‐ and five‐star hotels was conducted. Still, a small number of responses were gathered, and so additional telephone interviews were also conducted with two hotel managers for gathering more qualitative information.FindingsFindings revealed an increased unfamiliarity of hotels with TK, which in turn eliminated their activities for externalizing and utilizing TK and enhancing business performance. TK externalization was reported as critically important to be first achieved, as TK utilization builds and uses the potential TK stocks that are created through TK externalization. Respondents also mainly used outcome‐oriented metrics for assessing TK externalization processes, ignoring process‐oriented metrics evaluating the effective implementation of TK processes.Research limitations/implicationsDespite the small number of responses, findings imply an increased urgency to raise industry‐wide awareness regarding the strategic role and importance of TK for improving business performance. However, enabling TK externalization processes are deemed as an essential first step, before establishing infrastructures and providing organizational incentives for motivating TK utilization.Originality/valueMost studies focus on examining TK's characteristics and its utilization in different business processes, while fewer studies explore TK transformation into enhanced business performance. This study sheds light on such issues by proposing a two‐stage framework showing how to both manage and measure performance of TK utilization and externalization processes for enhancing business performance.