Social and Cognitive Determinants in Participating in a Collaborative Platform

Abstract

If collaborative tools and platforms facilitate collaboration in principle, they don't do so every time. While organizations invest significantly in implementing collaborative tools, employees often prefer using communication channels they have developed and not those recommended by the organization. After presenting various investigations describing the issues related to participating in virtual communities of practice, we present an example of implementing this innovative practice in an academic context. We began by putting into place a pilot project with a view to conducting a preliminary quantitative analysis taking into account facilitation strategies as the determining variable in participation and success. A second qualitative analysis based on participant interviews reveals the importance of the concept of usefulness, perceived as a determinant variable in participation. Our study highlights the social and cognitive dimensions related to participating in collaborative platforms and more precisely describe the factors that encourage or discourage participation.