（2009）Knowledge Sharing among Accounting Academics in an Electronic Network of Practice.pdfVIP

Accounting Horizons Vol. 23, No. 2 American Accounting Association 2009 DOI: 10.2308/acch.20051 pp. 151–179 Knowledge Sharing among Accounting Academics in an Electronic Network of Practice Eileen Z. Taylor and Uday S. Murthy SYNOPSIS: Using a multi-method approach, we explore accounting academics’ knowledge-sharing practices in an Electronic Network of Practice ENOP—the Ac- counting Education using Computers and Multimedia AECM email list. Established in 1996, the AECM email list serves the global accounting academic community. A review of postings to AECM for the period January–June 2006 indicates that members use this network to post questions, replies, and opinions covering a variety of topics, but focus- ing on financial accounting practice and education. Sixty-nine AECM members consti- tuting 9.2 percent of the AECM membership base responded to a survey that measured their self-perceptions about altruism, reciprocation, reputation, commitment, and partici- pation in AECM. The results suggest that altruism is a significant predictor of posting frequency, but neither reputation nor commitment significantly relate to posting fre- quency. These findings imply that designers and administrators of the recently launched AAA Commons platform should seek ways of capitalizing on the altruistic tendencies of accounting academics. The study’s limitations include low statistical power and poten- tial inconsistencies in coding the large number of postings. Keywords: accounting academia; electronic network of practice; ENOP; knowledge sh