Online communities (OCs) have garnered tremendous interest due to their unique characteristics of information sharing, communication, cocreation and innovation. However, there is still considerable uncertainty around their genesis. As these new organisational forms gain traction, it is important to understand how they emerge. This thesis examines how various interactions between individuals across social media sites converge on shared interests, resulting in self-organisation in OCs. The research involved an extensive content analysis of digital traces of interactions (Berente, Seidel and Safadi, 2018) between members of an OC centred on a software development project called GitPoint across two social networking sites (Twitter and Gitter) prior to the community’s emergence.

Paper 1 hence investigates how leadership structures emerge, evolve and stabilise over time in an OC from an embryonic stage to an established stage. The empirical findings of Paper 1 enabled us to understand how leadership structures emerged over three stages, including how roles, focus, trust and expressions of leadership developed as a consequence of the unique and interconnected features provided by Twitter, Gitter and GitHub. Moreover, Paper 1 offers insights into how leadership structures form in an OC and makes an important contribution to the literature on leadership in OCs.

Paper 2 sheds light on the interactions that occurred during the early stages of the community’s life cycle, revealing how the GitPoint community members worked together and integrated their interests into a common one. Thus, the community’s knowledge patterns were shaped and evolved over time. Knowledge patterns rise, evolve and remain stable as a result of a problem that needs a solution, and these solutions reflect the interests of the members of the community. As the problem progresses and the associated solutions are used repeatedly, a temporary pattern of knowledge emerges that evolves in response to the problem’s progression. In Paper 2, a model of OC knowledge patterns’ evolution is presented. Based on this model and analysis, this paper offers insights into the evolution of knowledge patterns in an OC and critically contributes to the literature on knowledge in OCs.

Paper 3 examines how governance evolves throughout the span of an OC’s lifetime, from the embryonic stage to the emergence stage to the established stage. We use the concept of capability to construct a theoretical narrative of interactions between individuals across social networking sites, such as Twitter and Gitter, prior to the emergence of their community. Based on this narrative, Paper 3 provides insights into the emergence of governance in an OC and makes important contributions to the literature on governance in such communities.