How fundamental and supplemental interactions affect users’ knowledge sharing in virtual communities? A social cognitive perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID12420943
AuthorsJunjie Zhou (0000-0002-7996-9548, Renmin University of China, corresponding author), Meiyun Zuo (0000-0002-5281-5071, Renmin University of China), Y Yu (0000-0002-0979-3890, Renmin University of China), Wen Jia Chai (0000-0002-5854-6669, Renmin University of China), Wen Chai
Year2014
Volume24
Issue5
Pages566-586
Publication date2014-09-25
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternet Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1066-2243 • E-ISSN: 2054-5657
PublisherEmerald Publishing Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1108/intr-07-2013-0143
OpenAlexW1988677924
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited53

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the environment of a virtual community (users’ interactions inside and outside of a community which are defined as the fundamental and supplemental interaction (FI and SI), respectively) on its users’ knowledge sharing (KS) and the underlying cognitive mechanism. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted among the users who had experience of participating in a domain knowledge specific online community. A total of 479 valid observations were collected. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research model and hypotheses. Findings – The empirical results show that the fundamental interaction (FI) not only directly affects users’ knowledge acquisition (KA) and contribution, but also indirectly affects users’ KA and contribution partially through the users’ self-efficacy and outcome expectation. While the supplemental interaction (SI) negatively affects users’ KA, it positively affects the users’ knowledge contribution and this effect is also partially mediated by the users’ self-efficacy and outcome expectation. The mediators of self-efficacy and outcome expectation play distinct role on users’ KA and contribution in virtual communities (VCs). Originality/value – This research conceptualizes the users’ interaction inside and outside of a particular virtual community as FI and SI, respectively, and reveals the mechanism how they affect users’ KA and contribution. The results shed light on the literature of KS in VCs and extend social cognitive theory's application into a complex environment with blended interactions in a virtual world. The research also provides insights for virtual community designers, administrators and users

Affect (linguistics · Cognition · Knowledge management · Knowledge sharing · Mechanism (biology · Online community · Originality · Outcome (game theory · Perspective (graphical · Social cognitive theory · Structural equation modeling · The Internet · Virtual community · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Knowledge Management and Sharing · Open Source Software Innovations · Psychology · Social Psychology · Wikis in Education and Collaboration

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