The ba of blogs

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the characteristics of a blog community and the enabling conditions of knowledge conversion using the knowledge creation cycle and the enabling context (ba) in which knowledge is converted from individual to collective and from tacit to explicit.Design/methodology/approachA literature review is used to identify environmental factors and enabling conditions for knowledge conversion and the sense of community within blog communities as well as a blog‐based virtual ethnography of a blog community.FindingsThe paper proposes ten potential enabling conditions that influence the sense of community in blog environments, and which facilitate the ba of socialisation (originating ba) and externalisation (conversing ba) necessary for conversion of tacit knowledge between individuals.Research limitations/implicationsThis study observed one blog community over a five‐month period of time. Future research could be extended to examine multiple networked blog communities from the inception of the communities.Originality/valuePrevious research on the ability of virtual environments to facilitate ba for tacit knowledge conversion is limited. The paper develops an important connection between virtual environments and tacit knowledge conversion, which have implications for organisations whose members are not physically co‐located but must share knowledge.