Leaders of organisational communities of practice: their characteristics, activities, and fit with their communities

ABSTRACT By balancing the needs for autonomy and control, leaders of organisational communities of practice (OCoPs) play a central role in their effectiveness. This study aims to identify different OCoP leader profiles and analyse possible contingencies with various OCoP types. Using a qualitative methodology on a sample of 16 OCoPs from nine international organisations, an inductive analysis was undertaken by using Gioia et al.’s (2013) data structures model. Results reveal three distinct OCoP leader profiles, labelled “centripetal”, “centrifugal” and “balanced”. A comparison of different OCoP types reveals a fit between centripetal OCoP leaders and operational exploitation OCoPs, centrifugal OCoP leaders and strategic exploration OCoPs, and, finally, balanced OCoP leaders and hybrid OCoPs. These results enrich previous research on OCoP types, by identifying a “hybrid” combination of the two, proposing a novel framework of different OCoP leader profiles and highlighting a new contingency perspective on the relationships between OCoP leader profiles and OCoP types.