Mathis, Samantha;
(2022)
Exploring leaders’ value of participating in virtual leadership communities of practice.
Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The research study explores a leader’s perceived value in participating in a virtual leadership community of practice. This research applied narrative inquiry by examining value creation stories through the lens of Wenger, Trayner and de Laat’s (2011) value creation framework to explore how leaders within the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office apply learning from these communities to their leadership practice. It explores how emerging, mid-level and senior leaders engage in their virtual leadership communities and what influences the value that the leaders find within them. Fieldwork includes an online survey blended with semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Findings reveal that leaders’ participation in leadership communities can traverse multiple cycles of value creation and similar experiences can be experienced and valued by leaders at all levels. Although leaders find immediate value with the interactions and immediate connections within their leadership communities, more find benefit from the ‘potential and future value’ of virtual leadership communities, especially if influential to their own leadership development practice. Developing and supporting leadership communities is increasingly a focus of leadership development efforts in organisations. However, evaluating leadership communities and networks is a challenge, especially when staff are dispersed across wide geographical areas. Similarly-intended communities vary depending on environmental and contextual characteristics and influences, such as the maturity of the community, the ability to develop trust, engagement and motivation, as well as delivering value applicable to a leader’s work and leadership practice. These differing influences lead to different strengths and challenges, which can be addressed by learning professionals and organisations. This research shows that, in order to ensure success, decisions and actions have to be fine-tuned towards the unique personalities of the virtual leadership communities.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ed.D |
| Title: | Exploring leaders’ value of participating in virtual leadership communities of practice |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Learning and Leadership UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10151931 |
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