Ira Fachira

Citation

Thesis Title
Knowledge and Learning in a Service context: Sensemaking in an Online Community of Hair Stylists

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Little research has been directly concerned with knowledge and learning in the service context, especially with how frontline personnel learn to deal with the technical and social aspects of service encounters. Ms Fachira explored knowledge and learning in the service context by investigating how frontline personnel make sense of their workplace experiences in an online community of practice. Drawing on discussions posted by an online community of hair stylists, her study examined learning as the development of practice and identities through participation in a community of practice. Results indicated that knowledge in the service context was constructed through narrative sensemaking, conducted through online discussions. Ms Fachira’s study provides an exemplar of how sensemaking and storytelling in an online community can help develop learning and professional identity. Furthermore, she showed how the activity of learning about customers was social, on-going, and constantly being interpreted.

Supervisors
Professor Janet Sayers
Dr Trish Bradbury