Faraj, Samer, and Takumi Shimizu. "Online communities and knowledge collaborations." Oxford research encyclopedia of business and management. 2018.

Online communities (OCs) are increasingly recognized as potent platforms for knowledge collaboration and innovation, transcending the limitations of traditional hierarchical organizations. These communities facilitate the generation and exchange of ideas on a vast scale, allowing participants to discuss, remix, and build upon each other's contributions. They thrive on both tacit and explicit knowledge flows, playing a crucial role in supporting open and user-driven innovation. The fluidity of resources and the need to manage inherent tensions are key challenges that OCs face in sustaining productive knowledge collaboration. The interplay between digital technologies and community participants is central to the vitality of OCs as spaces for knowledge flows. Research focused on understanding and enhancing these knowledge flows within OCs promises a fruitful direction for future investigations.