An empirical study of what drives users to share knowledge in virtual communities

Authors:
Shun Ye;Huaping Chen;Xiaoling Jin
Affiliations:
School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China;School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China;Department of Information Systems, USTC-CityU Joint Advanced Study Institute, Dushu Lake, China
Venue:
KSEM'06 Proceedings of the First international conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management
Year:
2006

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Abstract

This paper proposes and tests a new model that helps explain knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Grounded on a communication-based view, we examined key drivers of user intention to share knowledge in virtual communities from three aspects: the knowledge to be shared, the individual self and the environment. In particular, a self-concept-based motivation model was employed to investigate individuals’ motivational factors. An empirical study of 363 virtual community users demonstrated the salient and dominant influences of enhanced knowledge self-efficacy and self-image on knowledge contribution intention. Enjoyment in helping others, trust and system usability were also found to be important motivations for knowledge sharing. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.