Distributed leadership, trust and online communities

This paper analyses the role of distributed leadership and trust in online communities. The team-based informal ethos of online collaboration requires a different kind of leadership from that in formal positional hierarchies. Such leadership may be more flexible and sophisticated, capable of encompassing ambiguity and rapid change. Online leaders need to be partially invisible, delegating power and distributing tasks. Yet, simultaneously, online communities are facilitated by the high visibility and subtle control of expert leaders. This paradox: that leaders need to be both highly visible and invisible as appropriate, was derived from prior research and tested in the analysis of online community discussions using a pattern-matching process. It is argued that both leader visibility and invisibility are important for the facilitation of trusting collaboration via distributed leadership. Advanced leadership responses to complex situations in online communities foster positive group interaction and decision-making, facilitated through active distribution of specific tasks

Digital prefigurative participation: the entwinement of online communication and offline participation in protest events

This article reviews the main findings of a three-year empirical study that examined the possible contribution of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to participation in offline social movement protest events. Participation was examined as manifest in mobilization, identity building and organizational transformation. Digital prefigurative participation is a tentative construct that attempts to capture the CMC aspect of engagement in the three processes. The participatory processes were probed in the contrasting circumstances of high- and low-risk protest events. This distinction has revealed some important differences in the structural factors that foster participation, primary among which has been organizational affiliation. Yet, it has remained largely unexplored in studies of internet use in protest politics. Findings from two case studies of environmental protests in Romania and the UK suggest that digital prefigurative participation may be extensive among unaffiliated participants at a low-risk event and the affiliated at a high-risk one

Probing the Implications of Facebook use for the organizational form of social movement organizations

This article examines the use of Facebook by social movement organizations (SMOs) and the ramifications from that usage for their organizational form. Organizational forms have been viewed to be in flux as networked communication becomes embedded in mobilization repertoires. In what follows, it is shown that the utilization of Facebook by networked heterarchical organizations is seen to grant them access to a hitherto untapped demographic for the purpose of mobilization. Concurrently, questions are raised pertaining to organizational form, particularly in relation to the role the Facebook audience plays in movement organizations. Communication on Facebook may catalyze deliberation, information sharing and mobilization. Moreover, evidence was found pointing to its use for the self-organization of protest participation. Yet, engagement between SMOs and their Facebook audience bore little on decision-making within the organizations. Although limited in scope, the emerging contribution of such communication may be by way of channelling items into decision-making agendas

Identifying and building the leadership capacity of community of practice facilitators

The authors report on an Australian project that conducted a sector-wide needs analysis and qualitative interviews to identify community of practice (CoP) leadership roles, challenges, and development needs. Survey and interview data identified that most communities of practice are situated within university faculties among practitioners and are, therefore, close to where student learning takes place. The project findings informed the creation of resources to develop CoP leadership capacity to foster shared social learning and thereby improve learning and teaching across the Australian higher education sector. This article outlines the distributed leadership approach that profiled the strengths of each member of the project team and enabled the group to become a CoP in action and to work collaboratively over three years

Educational e-Leadership: A Review of Literature

Studies have shown that e-learning seems to be a more established scholarly field in educational studies, both theoretically and practically, while the interface of educational leadership and technology remains relatively unexplored by comparison. This literature review aims to find out to what extent educational e-leadership has created a valid theoretical framework for the field and aims to synthesize previous research into a conceptual framework for educational e-leadership, based on the advances in both the field of education and e-leadership. Upon study, it became apparent that there remain various similar terminologies around e-leadership, which has caused a lack of unity among scholars—hindering development in the field of study. Five important topics were chosen to discuss including philosophy and pedagogy, competencies or growth of an educational e-leader, and models of quality management and trust

A systematic review, textual narrative synthesis and framework for digital leadership research maturity in Higher Education

The practice of effective digital leadership in higher education is urgently needed to keep up with changing demands and opportunities. Yet limited knowledge exists of how it is defined, how it operates and relates to institutional leadership, including both administration and teaching. An updated review of prior empirical studies is overdue, given system-wide digitalization. This article systematically reviews empirical studies on digital leadership in higher education between 1999 and 2022, its value, focus and the research methods involved. The review combined descriptive synthesis and textual narrative synthesis, applying a data-based convergent synthesis design adhering to PRISMA and ENTREQ reporting guidelines. From 231 records, 36 studies remained following application of exclusion criteria. Research has increased, but is still limited in theory, maturity, and evidence. Definitions and theories of digital leadership are varied in scope and how far they are considered in the reviewed studies. Functional rather than critical perspectives predominate. The quality of most research is low, lacking rigour in research questions and methods, rendering findings inconclusive. The review recommends a digital leadership research maturity framework and further research on theoretical definitions and digitalization to address gaps in the literature identified in the review

Exploring online identities of influential users in online communities: A mixed methods approach

At present the use of online communities has become a great interest to practitioners and scholars alike due to the potential for recruitment and social marketing (Johnson, Safadi, & Faraq, 2015). However, despite the growth in interest for online communities and the vast potential that online communities offer, fairly little is known about who influences these groups and the social dynamics of influence. This research aimed to advance existing knowledge on online communities and examine the online identities and behaviours of individuals who gain momentum and status within online communities and how they subsequently lose this perceived status amongst followers.The present research utilised a pragmatic, mixed methods approach to exploring influential users. The first phase of the research employed quantitative methods to determine role transition in two online communities. Using secondary data, the cluster-analysis illustrated those who had been influential over a two-year period and the various role transitions that occurred within that time frame. From this, the present research was able to assess particular online behaviours associated with influential individuals and identify those deemed influential. A MANOVA revealed that those categorised as always influential over the two-year period had higher posts, threads, word count for threads, number of thanks, and reputation and average number of thanks in comparison with their counterparts. Additionally, social network analysis and a number of fixed effects are discussed in relation to status. There were no significant differences found between the two different online discussion sites. Phase two of the research was conducted via narrative analysis of 16 online community users (eight from LWP and eight from IU). A detailed examination of the themes are discussed, the journey that individuals embarked upon when entering a new forum and this then illustrates how individuals try to seek acceptance from others within their communities. This explored the online identities of influential individuals from a Social Identity Theory perspective (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Social identity is key in understanding online community life and understanding how influential individuals relate to their salient roles embedded in the community. Consequently, this research contributes to knowledge by ulitising this theory to explore social identities of those who gain and lose status and how their identities transpire through online communication. The research has produced some key questions and interesting ideas for future research with regards to undermining credibility in online forums, which could be incorporated into government strategy for counter-terrorism interventions