Title
Accumulation mechanism of opinion leaders' social interaction ties in virtual communities: Empirical evidence from China.
Abstract
Considering both personal and social perspectives, self-identity and reciprocity were analyzed to identify the underlying mechanisms used by opinion leaders to accumulate their social interaction ties in virtual communities. As a key factor in maintaining the operation of virtual communities, knowledge contribution is employed in our route model. An online survey conducted in several different virtual communities, yielded 666 useable responses. The research findings indicate that opinion leaders accumulate their social interaction ties through different routes such as self-identity, knowledge contribution, and reciprocity. We also observe that both knowledge contribution and reciprocity have a mediating effect on the relation between opinion leader status and social interaction ties. In addition, knowledge contribution has a mediating effect on the relationship between self-identity and social interaction ties; and on the relationship between reciprocity and social interaction ties. The indications and implications of our findings, as well as the limitations of our study, are discussed.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.005
Computers in Human Behavior
Keywords
Field
DocType
Opinion leader,Social interaction ties,Accumulation mechanism,Virtual community
Social relation,Social psychology,Empirical evidence,China,Psychology,Reciprocity (social psychology),Opinion leadership
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
82
0747-5632
1
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.35
30
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Yang Xiong110.35
Zhichao Cheng222.06
Enhe Liang310.35
Yinbo Wu410.35