Community of Practice: A flexible construct for understanding SME networking roles in the Irish artisan cheese sector

Abstract

Networking is generally seen as an important mechanism for small scale and rural enterprises to overcome their relative disadvantage by leveraging knowledge and resources. Communities of practice (CoP) are a type of network where close relationships develop around a shared identity and understanding. However, a commonly occurring critique of the CoP literature is that little attention is paid to asymmetric and unequal relationships and knowledge access among members. Thus, a gap remains regarding differences in the ability and willingness of members to engage with and develop the CoP, and, as a result, the different networking roles that emerge. In order to address this research gap, we present a full population, country-level study set in the Irish artisan cheese sector. We adopted a two-stage research design consisting of social network analysis (SNA) and 51 in-depth qualitative interviews. In this particular CoP, we find that membership is not negotiated in a uniform manner and that differences in participation can be identified and categorised by a focus on the intersection of owner-managers' participation identity and firm network positions. Building on this, we develop an original role typology depicting five distinct networking roles and examine how these different network identities relate to firm network positions and roles. It is posited that this typology can act as a sense-making tool for researchers and practitioners by which to diagnose and understand variation in small firm horizontal peer networking behaviour, particularly within the artisan based agri-food sector.

Social (un-)learning and the legitimization of marginalized knowledge: How a new community of practice tries to ‘kick the grain habit’ in ruminant livestock farming

“…Mutual beliefs and assumptions allowed his protagonists to speak the same language, to build relationships with each other and to learn from one another through the sharing of experiences and knowledge. Similar insights also derive from studies about CoPs within the artisanal cheese sector in Ireland (Crowley et al, 2018), sustainable dairy farming in Northern Ireland and the Netherlands (Triste et al, 2018), but also from large-scale commodity growers involved in natural resource management in Sweden (Nykvist, 2014), or GMO crop trials in the UK (Oreszczyn et al, 2010).…”

“…Thus, the paper draws on the three key characteristics of CoPs (Lave and Wenger, 1991;Wenger, 1999), which have become widely recognized for providing effective fora for learning and knowledge management, as well as for spurring innovations (Brown and Duguid, 1991;Hildreth and Kimble, 2004;Wenger et al, 2002). More precisely, the paper connects with earlier works invoking this concept within agrifood studies (Carolan, 2011;Crowley et al, 2018;Dolinska and D'Aquino, 2016;Goulet, 2013;Materia et al, 2015;Morgan, 2011;Oreszczyn et al, 2010;Triste et al, 2018), and specifically seeks to contribute to the debates raised around the forms of knowledge that are shared within such communities and their members' means of interaction which facilitate social learning. Second, and in direct relation to this theoretical framing, this paper makes an attempt to refine understandings of social learning in the context of agriculture and food systems.…”

The TRIPLE Change Framework: Merging Theories of Intersectional Power, Learning, and Change to Enable Just, Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive Engineering Education

“…For instance, Goodley et al (2020) Scholars have also examined power relations within CoPs. For instance, Crowley et al (2018) characterized differences in identity and participation within an artisan Irish cheese making CoP in terms of how various members benefited from the CoP. They noted the importance of intersectional power in understanding the clearly inequitable access to information within the CoP.…”

Influence of Entrepreneurial Network Ecosystem on Growth of Leather Manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

“…Small firms need resources and assistance from outsiders such as other firms, supporting institutions, including family and friends (Das & Goswami, 2019). Networking is generally seen as an essential mechanism for SMEs to overcome their relative disadvantage by leveraging knowledge and resources (Crowley, McAdam, Cunningham, & Hilliard, 2018).…”