Cultural Dimension of Femininity: Masculinity in Virtual Organizing Knowledge Sharing.

Wikipedia is an example of a virtual organization that shares knowledge and whose uniqueness lies in its global range and inclusiveness. The main subject of this paper is the cultural dimension of femininity and masculinity and its reflection in the activity of the users of Wikipedia as a virtual organization sharing knowledge. Many studies tackled the issue of a low percentage of women in most language versions of Wikipedia. However, there have been relatively few attempts to investigate the virtual organization from the perspective of the cultural dimension of femininity and masculinity. The aim of the presented research was to identify the differentiation of the selected language versions of Wikipedia in the cultural dimension of femininity and masculinity. We answer the questions whether these differences are reflected in the functioning of the Wikipedia environment and how this fact may improve organizing cooperation in virtual organizations to enhance knowledge sharing. The method of content analysis and analysis of the register of user activity in several fields of activity were adopted. For quantitative analysis, xTools and PetScan tools for generating statistical data were used. For qualitative analysis, chosen user pages and other public spaces were investigated. The results of the conducted research showed that in feminine cultures the relational dimension of activity in Wikipedia space was more important. Behavioural traits specific to task orientation were more pronounced in masculine cultures. In many language versions of feminine cultures, gender divisions were neither distinguished, nor exposed, thus making them more problematic to identify. These differences may affect the ways of sharing knowledge in virtual organizations operating in various cultures and may also cause difficulties in the implementation of international projects. The awareness of these conditions may be of use for the organization of effective cooperation in knowledge management, especially knowledge sharing in various virtual communities of activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]