Encounters with Authority: Tactics and negotiations at the periphery of participatory platforms

Digital participatory platforms like Wikipedia are often celebrated as projects that allow anyone to contribute. Any user can sign up and start contributing immediately. Similarly, projects that engage volunteers in the production of scientific knowledge create easy points of entry to make contributions. These low barriers to entry are a hallmark feature in digital participatory labor, limiting the number of hoops a new volunteer has to jump through before they can feel like they are making a difference. Such low barriers to participation at the periphery, or edges of participatory platforms, have presented a problem for organizational scholars as they wonder how such projects can achieve consistent results when opportunities to train and socialize newcomers are constrained by a need for low barriers. As a result, scholarship has focused on answering the question of newcomer learning and socialization by examining how newcomers make sense of their new digital workspaces rather than focus on how institutional constraints are imposed. In this research, I draw on a growing body of scholarship that pushes against the perception of openness and low barriers on digital participatory platforms to unpack the constraints on participation that newcomers confront and, in particular, to show how such constraints resemble characteristics of institutionalized newcomer onboarding tactics. To approach this question, I conducted 18 months of participant observation and conducted 36 interviews with experts, newcomers, and project leaders from the crowdsourced citizen science platform Planet Hunters and the peer produced encyclopedia, Wikipedia. I analyzed my data using a grounded theory research design that is sensitized using the theoretical technology of Estrid Sørensen’s Forms of Presence as a way to pay attention to the sociomaterial configurations of newcomer practice, attending to the actors (both human and nonhuman) that play a part in the constraints and affordances of newcomer participation. By drawing on Sørensen’s Forms of Presence, the analytical focus on the newcomer experience shifts from looking at either top-down institutional tactics of organizations or bottom-up individual tactics of newcomers to thinking about the characteristics of relationships newcomers have with other members and platform features and the effects of these relationships as they relate to different opportunities for learning and participation. Focusing on the different ways that learning and participation are made available affords the exploration of how the authority of existing practices in particular settings are imposed on learners despite the presence of low barriers to participation. By paying attention to the sociomaterial configuration of newcomer participation, my findings unpack the tactics that newcomers encounter at the periphery, or edges of participatory platforms, as well as how they find their work being included or excluded from the platform. I use the findings to develop a taxonomy of encounters that describes how newcomers can participate in a self-guided experience as the existing literature describes, but also experience moments of guided and targeted encounters. What this taxonomy of encounters suggests is that the periphery of participatory platforms can be at once an open space for exploration and experimentation but also a well-managed space where, despite low barriers to initial participation, a newcomer must negotiate what I describe as the guardrails of participation that define the constraints and affordances that shape their experience

Comparing Approaches to Virtual Team Onboarding: the Influence of Synchrony and Cues on Impressions of Leaders During Encounter Phase Organizational Socialization

Whether fully virtual or a hybrid of virtual and face-to-face teams, more organizations use computer-mediated communication than ever before. Under the right circumstances, virtual team environments have been shown to increase employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity (Gallup, 2020). However, there is also consensus that virtual teams take longer to get work done and miscommunicate more frequently than face-to-face teams (Morrison-Smith & Ruiz, 2020). While there is no silver bullet to resolve these shortcomings, one potential area for intervention is during new employee onboarding. This study tests the hyperpersonal model and social presence theory’s application to virtual team onboarding by examining how message characteristics (synchronicity and degree of nonverbal cues) affect new employees’ sense of safety and impressions of their managers during their first moments on the job. The study finds no relationship between synchronicity and degree of nonverbal cues on employees’ sense of safety or impression of their managers. However, the study finds a marginally significant negative interaction effect between synchronicity and low nonverbal cues on impressions of virtual team leaders’ relational communication. Theoretical and practical implications for virtual team onboarding are discussed

Virtual Social Onboarding: Bridging the Gap between Newcomer Adjustment and Workplace Friendships in Virtual Work Teams

Many organizations are choosing to adopt some form of remote work teams long-term post-COVID 19 and are now tasked with addressing challenges around remote work such as newcomer engagement and newcomer onboarding (MacKenzie et al., 2022). This study attempts to explore how virtual onboarding impacts newcomer adjustment and the development of workplace friendships in fully remote teams due to their correlation with the desired outcomes of onboarding and socialization (Allen, 2006; Feeley et al., 2008; Hemphill & Begel, 2011; Jones, 1986; Korte & Lin, 2013; Mignerey et al., 1995; Morrison, 2004; Sias & Cahill, 1998). Organizational socialization tactics (Jones, 1986; Van Maanen & Schein, 1977) and media richness theory (Daft et al., 1987; Daft & Lengel, 1986) were used as frameworks to explore which existing virtual onboarding strategies are most influential in facilitating newcomer adjustment and workplace friendships. An analysis of the mixed-methods online survey found institutionalized socialization tactics were significantly related to positive newcomer adjustment and workplace friendships. However, contrary to previous literature, the social aspects socialization tactics were not the most influential in virtual onboarding for facilitating newcomer adjustment and workplace friendships. The results considering media richness in virtual onboarding on newcomer adjustment were not conclusive, and media richness was not significantly related to workplace friendships. And lastly, a thematic analysis of responses provided insight into what virtual onboarding strategies were implemented by organizations that were most effective for promoting newcomer adjustment and workplace friendships

Fostering Public Good Contributions with Symbolic Awards: A Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment at Wikipedia

This natural field experiment tests the effects of purely symbolic awards on volunteer retention in a public goods context. The experiment is conducted at Wikipedia, which faces declining editor retention rates, particularly among newcomers. Randomization assures that award receipt is orthogonal to previous performance. The analysis reveals that awards have a sizeable effect on newcomer retention, which persists over the four quarters following the initial intervention. This is noteworthy for indicating that awards for volunteers can be effective even if they have no impact on the volunteers’ future career opportunities. The awards are purely symbolic, and the status increment they produce is limited to the recipients’ pseudonymous online identities in a community they have just recently joined. The results can be explained by enhanced self-identification with the community, but they are also in line with recent findings on the role of status and reputation, recognition, and evaluation potential in online communities. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2540 . This paper was accepted by John List, behavioral economics

New Faculty Hire Transition: The Impact of the Extent of the Learning Organization Traits of Higher Education Institutions

The purpose of the study was to determine the degree to which implementation of learning organization processes in higher education institutions (HEI) affects new faculty hires’ perception of their transitioning success. In this quantitative, ex post facto, comparative study, the researcher also investigated various factors, including academic disciplines, gender and ethnicity, and personality type, to determine if any of these factors would contribute an interaction effect on the relationship between the HEI exhibiting learning organization traits (LOT) and the new faculty hires’ perceived transition success. The researcher collected a convenience sample of 310 full-time professors employed by 33 4-year, private, nonprofit HEIs in the Northwestern United States. The findings indicated statistically significant differences existed in the perception of successful transition of the new hires between faculty who perceived their HEI exhibiting high levels of LOT versus those who perceived their institution exhibiting low levels of LOT. The findings also revealed that the interaction effect with academic disciplines, gender and ethnicity, and personality type on LOT and perception of new faculty success was not statistically significant. When the participating professors were asked about adjustment tactics they used to help facilitate their transition, there were 11 frequently recurring themes that emerged from the participants’ comments: observing, understanding organizational culture, talking, using support offered, asking questions and listening, networking, relationship building, stress management, personal efforts, mentoring, and nonspecific strategies. HEIs exhibiting high LOT are more likely to facilitate the successful transitions of new faculty hires

Participation of New Editors After Times of Shock on Wikipedia

User participation is vital to the success of collaborative crowdsourcing platforms such as Wikipedia. Previously user participation has been studied during “normal times”. However, less is known about participation following shocks that draw attention to an article. Such events can be recruiting opportunities due to increased attention; but can also pose a threat to the quality and control of the article and drive away newcomers. We study the collaborative dynamics of Wikipedia articles after times corresponding to shocks generated by drastic increases in attention as indicated by data from Google trends.We find that participation following such events is indeed different from participation during normal times–both newcomers and incumbents participate at higher rates during shocks. We also identify collaboration dynamics that mediate the effects of shocks on continued participation after the shock. The impact of shocks on participation is mediated by the amount of negative feedback given to newcomers in the form of reverted edits and the amount of coordination editors engage in through edits of the article’s talk page.National Science Foundation Grant No. IIS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148429/1/Zhang et al. 2019.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148429/4/3253-Article Text-6302-1-10-20190531.pdfDescription of Zhang et al. 2019.pdf : Preprint versionDescription of 3253-Article Text-6302-1-10-20190531.pdf : Final Versio

Project leader's dual socialization and its impact on team learning and performance: A diagnostic study

One of the important challenges for leadership in project teams is the ability to manage the knowledge, communication and coordination related activities of team. In cross-team collaboration, different boundaries contribute to the situated nature of knowledge and hamper the flow of knowledge and prevent shared understanding with those on the other side of the boundary. While existing research on the issue has focused on 'what' is needed to overcome these boundaries, there is very little research on 'how' leaders can be equipped to deal with the challenges of cross-boundary work. We propose a new construct: 'dual socialization' of the project leader, as an important means of surmounting challenges of knowledge sharing and collaboration across boundaries. We argue that dual socialization enables a leader to gain a deep contextual understanding of collaborating teams in a manner that is not easily available through other means of learning. This understanding then is invaluable for the knowledge transfer process as well as for achieving project goals. A model of dual socialization, knowledge transfer and project team outcomes (team performance & inter-team coordination) is proposed and tested using data from project teams in a leading global IT consulting firm. We focus on the inter-organizational boundary encountered by the consultants when dealing with the client. The thesis is based on the consulting team's point of view. The data is collected from client-consultant dyads in an engaged in an outsourcing relationship. The results support the importance of dual socialization as a construct for understanding and enhancing leadership capabilities needed in inter-organizational project teams. An important finding of this dissertation is that socialization to home and socialization to client don't always influence outcomes in a similar manner. They act in competing or complementary ways depending on the dependent variable and moderators under consideration. Also socialization to home/client may enhance or detract team performance based on project contingencies. Additionally, we found that prior knowledge of the team enhances the acquisition of knowledge, but detracts from the performance capability of the team. This finding has important implications for issues of team composition and design, as well as utilization of expertise

Role of Social Media in Facilitating Organizational Socialization Effectiveness Among New Hires

Texas Southern University, 2021 Professor Maurice Odine, Advisor ABSTRACT Organizational Socialization is the process of inculcating corporate core values and culture in new hires (Jablin,1982). Notably, and contingent upon an organization\u27s vision and aims, integration communication strategies can either be conventional or unconventional, structured, or unstructured. New hires get familiarized, incorporated, and adapted into an organization via a set of corporate procedures. To ease and ensure quick realignment, institutions craft guidelines, tools, structures, and offer mentorships. The processes and assigned support are made promptly accessible to new hires through the transition from pre-entry to entry and post-entry. The transition period is typically from the first six weeks to twelve months of commencement, while the anticipatory phase primarily precedes resumption at institutions. The focus is to develop expectations about the institution; the encounter phase is the initial six weeks of resumption, and it is intended to make sense of unforeseen situations. The metamorphosis phase is completing the encounter phase by the first year. Above all, the core phase is transitioning from new hires to functional members (Yarbrough and Brown, 2003). This research proposal explores and identifies the role of social media in socializing new hires within an institution. Key Words: New hires, organizational socialization, social media, communication strategie

Many Destinations, Many Pathways: A Quantitative Analysis of Legitimate Peripheral Participation in Scratch

Although informal online learning communities have proliferated over the last two decades, a fundamental question remains: What are the users of these communities expected to learn? Guided by the work of Etienne Wenger on communities of practice, we identify three distinct types of learning goals common to online informal learning communities: the development of domain skills, the development of identity as a community member, and the development of community-specific values and practices. Given these goals, what is the best way to support learning? Drawing from previous research in social computing, we ask how different types of legitimate peripheral participation by newcomers-contribution to core tasks, engagement with practice proxies, social bonding, and feedback exchange-may be associated with these three learning goals. Using data from the Scratch online community, we conduct a quantitative analysis to explore these questions. Our study contributes both theoretical insights and empirical evidence on how different types of learning occur in informal online environments