Paper Info
Title
An empirical study of what drives users to share knowledge in virtual communities
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.
Year
DOI
Venue
2006
10.1007/11811220_48
KSEM
Keywords
Field
DocType
knowledge sharing,virtual community,new model,share knowledge,knowledge contribution,virtual community user,knowledge contribution intention,user intention,empirical study,enhanced knowledge self-efficacy,self-concept-based motivation model,self efficacy
Knowledge sharing,Personal knowledge management,Computer science,Knowledge transfer,Usability,Knowledge management,Knowledge value chain,Knowledge engineering,Empirical research,Virtual community
Conference
Volume
ISSN
ISBN
4092.0
0302-9743
3-540-37033-1
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
14
0.98
16
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Shun Ye1274.23
Huaping Chen226512.92
Xiao-Ling Jin323211.63