Trompenaars’ (1994) findings regarding ascription- versus achievement-oriented cultures might also shed some light on the direction of knowledge flows within online CoPs as well as the assignment of specific roles within the communities, such as experts and managers. In ascription-oriented cultures, status is ascribed by virtue of age, gender, or wealth. To the contrary, in achievement-oriented cultures, such as the USA, status is derived from past achievements, and is not dependent on seniority or how others relate to his or her position in the community. Whereas a person in an ascription-oriented culture is likely to maintain his or her ascription-based position in society independent of his or her own achievements, in achievement-oriented cultures one has to prove his or her talents time and again. Since legitimation (Lave and Wenger, 1991), that is, the way in which one becomes a full member of the community, is usually the result of members earning their status in the community through a history of achievements (Hildreth et al., 2000), people in ascription-oriented cultures might have different expectations. For instance, members of ascription-oriented cultures might expect that those higher up in the organizational hierarchy (usually older and more experienced employees), should also assume the role of officially appointed experts and managers of online CoPs.