Identifying the Role of the Communities of Practice in the Development of Human Resource Management Knowledge

One of the most important knowledge management strategies is the community of practices (COPs) that fundamentally direct the creation and sharing of knowledge, learning, and change in the organizations. The advent of information and communication technology (ICT)  along with Web 2.0 tools have provided a platform that has formed a new kind of community of practice called Virtual community of practice, which provides a flexible way of collaboration, sharing best practices, and professional development in the organization. The aim of this study was to identify the role of the virtual communities of practice in the development of human resource management knowledge. The study was qualitative, in which the sample was selected using judgmental and purposive sampling. Consequently, 16 interviews were carried out with the community of HR Professional Managers who were the core members of the community. The data went through thematic analysis. As a result, thirty three sub-themes and 6 main themes were identified which were classified as individual (attitude, knowledge, skill, and motivation) and organizational (the development of HRM knowledge for managers through the community of practice and the use of HRM for the organization through the community of practice).