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http://dx.doi.org/10.9716/KITS.2013.12.2.119

Promoting Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities of Practice : Effects of the Cooperative Type and Tie Strength  

Kim, Jae Kyung (한남대학교 경상대학 경영정보학과)
Publication Information
Journal of Information Technology Services / v.12, no.2, 2013 , pp. 119-129 More about this Journal
Abstract
The degree to which people share knowledge has major impacts on the effectiveness of virtual community of practice (VCoP). As an extension to the previous study which investigated the effect of individual cooperative types (cooperator, reciprocator, and free rider) on knowledge sharing, it is investigated how much increase in the degree of cooperation will enhance knowledge sharing when there are more knowledge contributors and strong ties exist across the community. Simulation method is adopted to measure the effect of the cooperative type and tie strength on knowledge sharing. The results reveal that the tie strength positively affects knowledge contribution in VCoP and strongly tied VCoP generates equivalent level of knowledge contribution as that of weakly-tied VCoP with 5% more contributors.
Keywords
Knowledge Sharing; Virtual Communities of Practice; Tie Strength; Cooperative Type; Reciprocity;
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