Activities of Professional Expert Communities: Features of Participants’ Motivation and Assessment of Their Engagement

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study on the involvement of participants in professional expert communities that influence the solution of socio-economic issues, including those that contribute to the development of the education system and the national qualifications system.

The relevance of the study is justified by the increasing role of professional expert communities in the formation of the qualifications system and the dissemination of intellectual products produced by the structures of the national qualification system among educational institutions and industry participants. At the same time, a significant part of the activity is carried out on a non-commercial basis outside the obligations of labor relations, and therefore it is necessary to identify the motives for constructive, although essentially voluntary, expert activities.

The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is an empirical study of professional expert communities based on a series of in-depth interviews with community leaders and surveys of their participants. The research elaborates the previous work of the authors published in 2017—2019 and implemented in the form of community monitoring in a separate area of professional activity (personnel management). Disclosure of the motives for the involvement of participants in professional expert communities allows to identify engaging areas and growth points of voluntary expert activity. Basing on the results of the study, the authors developed the recommendations aimed at increasing the involvement of professional expert communities in solving urgent socio-economic problems.

Acknowledgments. The paper is prepared with the financial support of the RFBR as a part of the scientific project No. 19-010-00933 «Socio-economic foundations for the development and institutionalization of professional expert communities». The authors thank the experts of Community HUB and SRSO «Association of managers and specialists in the field of human resource management» for their help.