Co-worker support and community of practice: the role of concern for team member and preference for teamwork

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this article is to empirically investigate the effect of co-worker support on communities of practice with a sequential mediating effect of concern for team members and preference for teamwork.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of 216 were gathered from respondents employed as full-time personnel in public and private sector organizations in India using a survey questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis, structured equation modelling and regression analysis were applied to test the formulated hypothesis. Hayes PROCESS macro model was also used to estimate the indirect effects with bootstrap resamples.

Findings

The study's findings revealed the mediating effect of concern for team members and preference for teamwork on the relationship between co-worker support and communities of practice in a sequential manner. The total and direct consequence of co-worker support on communities of practice was also substantial.

Originality/value

This article offers an understanding of the process through which co-worker support is related to communities of practice. This study is the first of its type, basically in the Indian context to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

Citation

Dutta, A. and Rangnekar, S. (2023), "Co-worker support and community of practice: the role of concern for team member and preference for teamwork", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 30 No. 9, pp. 2948-2966. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-08-2021-0462