TY - JOUR
T1 - Re-contextualising start-up communities as social learning systems
AU - Cartland, Yuri
AU - Maras, Steven
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Start-up enterprises are perceived as key drivers of economic growth within a region and as a result have been subject to increased interest from governments and researchers. However, little research has focused on social learning within start-up communities and the broader start-up ecosystem. This study focuses on the start-up community in Perth, Western Australia. It has two research aims: firstly, to re-contextualise start-up communities as social learning systems (SLS), as defined by Étienne Wenger. Secondly, to explore the place of social learning within the start-up ecosystem. The two research aims are pursued through semi-structured interviews, and theoretically directed thematic analysis, both informed by Wenger’s work on communities of practice and social learning systems. The study finds that the start-up community’s role within the ecosystem is to act as a forum that accumulates and disseminates knowledge, that is essential to direct social interaction with others and shapes individual and community identities, grounding the start-up ecosystem in norms of Alignment, Engagement and Imagination. This article enhances understanding of the start-up community as an object of study in its own right, which can be approached as a social learning construct.
AB - Start-up enterprises are perceived as key drivers of economic growth within a region and as a result have been subject to increased interest from governments and researchers. However, little research has focused on social learning within start-up communities and the broader start-up ecosystem. This study focuses on the start-up community in Perth, Western Australia. It has two research aims: firstly, to re-contextualise start-up communities as social learning systems (SLS), as defined by Étienne Wenger. Secondly, to explore the place of social learning within the start-up ecosystem. The two research aims are pursued through semi-structured interviews, and theoretically directed thematic analysis, both informed by Wenger’s work on communities of practice and social learning systems. The study finds that the start-up community’s role within the ecosystem is to act as a forum that accumulates and disseminates knowledge, that is essential to direct social interaction with others and shapes individual and community identities, grounding the start-up ecosystem in norms of Alignment, Engagement and Imagination. This article enhances understanding of the start-up community as an object of study in its own right, which can be approached as a social learning construct.
KW - Start-ups
KW - Social learning
KW - Discourse
KW - Knowledge
KW - Communities of Practice
KW - Étienne Wenger
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114626356&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17510694.2021.1975075
DO - 10.1080/17510694.2021.1975075
M3 - Article
SN - 1751-0708
VL - 16
SP - 146
EP - 162
JO - Creative Industries Journal
JF - Creative Industries Journal
IS - 2
ER -