Community of practice: the making of knowledge dynamic in intangible cultural heritage

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to understand how a community of practice (CoP) facilitates the knowledge spiral of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in tourist destinations. Design/methodology/approach This case study focuses on Cantonese opera, a representative example of the ICH of Hong Kong. Narrative inquiry with eight CoP members was used in this study. Findings The CoP members believed that the city has unique and quality tourism knowledge. They used their professional expertise in the domains of creating, collecting and sharing both explicit and tacit knowledge. With the strategic goal of creating a sustainable competitive advantage, CoP act as a kernel in knowledge creation by converting explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge and vice versa. Originality/value This study uses the knowledge spiral model to understand knowledge creation, and it contributes to the sparse literature on knowledge management in the field of tourism, especially the role of CoP. It addressed a gap in the literature pertaining to knowledge creation and ICH.