Informal learning in virtual communities of practice in public administration

In recent decades, and in order to respond to the demands of a society in constant evolution, it is necessary to consider other ways of accessing knowledge, in addition to the traditional ones and linked to the established regulated and formal training processes. In this regard, many organizations have focused on detecting how their members learn informally in their workplace thanks to the close connection that exists between the work context and learning. It is important, in this regard, to identify the learning acquired informally to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategies to capture, transform, share and disseminate knowledge (Marsick and Watkins, 1999; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). From this perspective, communities of practice are a good strategy to bring together people who have a common interest, problem or challenge so that they share their knowledge, skills and experiences, and learn together as a result of this exchange. The present investigation is situated in this contextual framework. In the Spanish context, and, more specifically, in the Catalan Public Administration, there are several experiences where professionals can work collaboratively, through virtual communities of practice (vCoP), generating positive effects at the individual, group and organizational level (Cross 2007; Wenger, 1998). Such are those of the Department of Justice and the Public Health Agency of Catalonia. The objectives pursued are 4, namely: (1) determine the adequacy of the organizational environment in the learning and personal and professional development processes; (2) conceptualize informal learning and understand when it occurs in practice; (3) explore the reasons for participation in virtual communities of practice and the factors that affect learning in them; and (4) establish a system for the certification of informal learning. The participating sample was 81 participants and moderators of 8 vCoPs from both departments, to whom a self-administered questionnaire was applied (after content validation by 16 theoretical and practical judges) and an interview (N=30). The third method used was document analysis. The main analyzes carried out to examine the results of the data collected were: basic descriptive measures; relationships between variables; reliability as internal consistency; validity of the measures; construct validity; parameter estimation; factor analysis and analysis of factor variance. The results of this research allow us to advance the proposed objectives. Subsequently, clarifications are made about the limitations and new lines of research are pointed out.