Information system success and acceptance theories: Towards developing a “virtual communities of practice” success model

Most organizations in the world including the health care sector are unsuccessful in getting the expected benefits of knowledge management initiatives (KM). One of the KM initiatives in health care sector is virtual communities of practice (VCoPs). But the effectiveness of its contribution towards the well publicized failure of numerous KM initiatives is questioned by many researchers. In health care sectors Virtual Community of Practice is one of the KM initiatives practiced where practitioners conduct discussions and share experience online. Presently, there is no overall or widely accepted framework that addresses the important aspects of KM to measure the KMS success in health care sector particularly virtual communities in KMS, reflecting the need to build a successful VCoPs model. Basically, VCoPs depends on the interaction between practitioners through the information and communication technologies (ICT). Past researches have identified the technological and social psychological features as some of the key factors for the success of VCoPs. This article reports on a study that proposes a multidimensional VCoPs success model based on the information systems (IS) success theories which focuses on the social psychological perspective. This study adopts the theory of planned behavior (TPB) combined with other social psychological factors derived from the literature. From the technological perspective, the study adopts the DeLone and McLean IS success model as well as the technology acceptance model (TAM). However, technological and social psychological factors are showing a causal chain starting with beliefs and main system's characteristics to expectations about usage and value of the VCoPs. The model is developed to give initial insights to potential factors affecting VCoPs success and effectiveness in health care sector.