A communities of practice approach to management knowledge dissemination

A communities of practice perspective is used to unravel the actions and activities that facilitate the dissemination of management knowledge between organizations across space and time. In so doing, the local embedded nature of knowledge is recognized, as is the manner in which interactions between the pervasive and the specific provide a creative dynamic that facilitates the widespread dissemination and a multiple creation of knowledge. Knowledge interactions are explored in terms of boundary processes involving interactions between management gurus, management consultants, business schools/management academics, managers and business media. Moreover, by making a clear distinction between management knowledge and management ideas and techniques, important differences between the groups engaged in the dissemination of management knowledge are revealed.