Communities of practice and innovation: a review and research agenda

Purpose This study aims to explore the role of communities of practice (CoPs) in supporting organizational innovation. It provides a thorough review of how CoPs contribute to or shape innovation and concludes with an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach A hybrid narrative approach examines the existing research literature on CoPs and their impact on innovation. This review incorporates mainstream databases as well as an artificial intelligence tool. Findings The literature highlights three overarching themes: (1) innovation in informal CoPs, focusing on knowledge sharing and creation as key mechanisms driving innovation through knowledge management, the development of meta-capabilities and enhanced social capital; (2) innovation at the boundaries of communities, exploring how interactions between CoPs and connections with external communities promote innovation via boundary-spanning practices; and (3) innovation in organizational CoPs (OCoPs), examining how the dynamic interplay between autonomy and organizational objectives shapes OCoPs’ innovation potential. Research limitations/implications Future research should empirically examine how boundary-spanning activities (in and between communities) and proactive leadership of communities optimize measurable innovation outcomes, both within and beyond organizational frontiers. This calls for theorizing CoPs not merely as mechanisms for knowledge creation, but as pivotal structures that orchestrate, modulate and sustain an open and adaptive form of organizational ambidexterity. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study presents the first in-depth literature review on the relationship between CoPs and innovation, leveraging a combination of traditional academic sources and artificial intelligence tools.