• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.41-72
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• 2019

Purpose Virtual communities (VCs) are becoming ever more important in these days, sometimes more than offline communities. Notably, they have become significant sources of knowledge sharing. Therefore, in order to foster a VC, it is very important to understand why people share their knowledge in the VC. Under this background, this paper aims at proposing the behavioral model best explains knowledge sharing activities in VCs. Design/methodology/approach We basically design our behavioral model for knowledge sharing in VCs based on theory of reasoned action (TRA). However, to understand knowledge sharing in VCs better, we specify knowledge sharing by dividing it into knowledge contribution and knowledge use. Also, instead of 'subjective norm', we adopt 'sense of virtual community (SOVC)' as a main social factor, which has been found to be important in the literature. We also include the antecedents such as 'quality of the shared knowledge', 'trust in community members', 'passion of the community leader', 'reciprocity', and 'self efficacy', which affect VC users' attitude towards knowledge sharing and SOVC. To test the hypotheses in our proposed model, we collected 253 valid surveys from the VC users. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 23 is employed to assess the relationships proposed as the hypotheses. Findings Major findings are as follows. SOVC positively affects both intention to contribute knowledge and intention to use knowledge. And, trust in community members positively affects the attitude towards knowledge use and SOVC. The attitude towards knowledge use is also affected by the quality of the shared knowledge. Reciprocity is found to strongly positively affect the attitude towards knowledge contribution. However, passion of the community leader and self efficacy are found to have insignificant effect on SOVC and the attitude towards knowledge contribution respectively. Our study sheds a light on how to foster VCs from the perspective of knowledge management.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.139-157
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• 2017

This study proposed that a relationship exists between individual emotions and knowledge sharing (KS) intentions in competitive online advice communities. Through statistical analysis of 220 valid questionnaires collected from qualified community members, we found that individuals' intentions to contribute knowledge were enhanced by playfulness and reciprocity, while their intention to seek knowledge from others was facilitated significantly by needs fulfillment, sense of competition, and playfulness. In addition, we found that playfulness was a common factor that affected the intention to seek, as well as to contribute, knowledge. Specifically, playfulness was a highly significant individual emotion that affected both individuals' intention to contribute and seek knowledge, while reciprocity was significant primarily in individuals' intentions to contribute knowledge. Needs fulfillment and sense of competition were significant emotions that affected primarily individuals' intentions to seek knowledge. Interestingly, the factors that affected the intention to seek knowledge were consistent both in all participants and in the high-level fear group. However, in the low-level fear group, playfulness influenced KS intentions.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.197-211
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• 2021

The emergence of knowledge-sharing live streamers provides more diversified content to the live streaming platform. Analysis of the factors affecting the intention to use knowledge sharing live streaming users can allow the live streaming platform to understand better the adoption characteristics of users who follow this type of content. Help platform operators provide better services and help live streaming platforms innovate. Based on the TAM model, this research uses questionnaire surveys and structural equation models to construct a conceptual model of the influencing factors of users' intentions in the knowledge sharing live streaming and conduct an empirical analysis on the influencing factor models. The results of data analysis show that a significant influence of users' attitudes of knowledge sharing live streaming is perceived usefulness, followed by flow experience; perceived value has a positive impact on users' attitudes and intention to use, and the positive influence of users attitude significantly affect the user's intention.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.71-88
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to investigate why people voluntarily contribute knowledge to others, primarily strangers, in the electronic network of practice for job examination expected potential competing. This paper is organized as follows. First, we introduce the electronic network of practice which is the knowledge sharing community for job examination, and discuss the key issues for understanding knowledge sharing in these networks on the basis of individual motivations, relational capital, sense of community, and sense of rivalry to develop a research model for this study. To test the proposed research model, we adopted the survey method for data collection, and examined our hypotheses by applying the multiple regression analysis method to the collected data. Our unit of analysis was the individual. The findings of this study show that the intention of knowledge sharing is influenced by the reputation and the enjoy helping as the factors of individual motivations, by the reciprocity as the factor of relational capital, and by a sense of rivalry as a psychological factor. Lastly, contributions of this study and future research opportunities are also discussed.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.91-103
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• 2021

As knowledge management is recognized as an important competency of organizations, organizations are continuously investing in knowledge management policies and technologies. Knowledge management preemptively requires employees to share knowledge, but sharing activities for continuous knowledge management have not been performed. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of the organization's mutual exchange efforts through collaborative communication on the knowledge sharing intention of its employees. The study surveyed workers of organizations that operate knowledge management policies and verified the research hypothesis by applying 326 samples to structural equation modeling. As a result of the analysis, factors of collaborative communication(rationality, reciprocal feedback, formality) had a positive effect on the intention to share knowledge, and task interdependence and territoriality had a moderating effect on the relationship between collaborative communication and intention to share knowledge. The study has implications in terms of suggesting an activity strategy that an organization should pursue to improve knowledge sharing among its employees.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.19-38
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• 2014

This study focused on the role of active knowledge seeking (knowledge browsing and knowledge searching) in the context of virtual community of interest. Knowledge seeking is rarely studied as an antecedent in knowledge management (KM) research. Active knowledge seeking is considered as antecedents of sense of virtual community which mediates to knowledge sharing intention and virtual community promotion. Research hypotheses are tested by applying structure equation modeling with survey data from virtual community members in South Korea. Active knowledge seeking behavior was found to be the strong predictor of sense of virtual community, which, in turn, positively affects knowledge sharing intention and virtual community promotion. Implication to practitioners is to understand and accommodate the members' knowledge seeking efforts, who are potential contributors and promoters of the virtual community. Knowledge seeking, knowledge sharing and promoting virtual community are more of human activities than technology and this study extends the understanding of such human activities. By providing a mechanism of how knowledge seeking and sharing could work harmoniously, a virtuous circle with win-win situation could be achieved in virtual communities.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.73-81
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• 2016

This study examined the effects of followership characteristics on LMX, knowledge sharing, job satisfaction and turnover intention for coffee speciality store members. 317 questionnaire samples are used to test 4 hypotheses using structural equation model with AMOS. Results of hypotheses testing are as follows: First, goal congruence and active participation factors of followership characteristics influence positively LMX. Second, LMX influences positively knowledge sharing, and knowledge influences job satisfaction and turnover intention. This study emphasizes the importance of knowledge sharing in coffee speciality store members relations. In addition, this study shows that followership, LMX, knowledge sharing are important for members' increasing job satisfaction and decreasing turnover intention, and human resource management. Implications and limitations of this study were also suggested.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.12-37
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• 2013

Organizational climate and organization culture can be some of the leading factors in hindering knowledge sharing within the organization. It is generally accepted that successful knowledge management practice, including knowledge sharing, comes as a result of a conducive and knowledge sharing friendly environment. Organizations that promote and reward collective work generate a trustful and a more collaborative learning culture. The perception of fairness in an organization has been considered an important indicator of employee behavior, attitude, and motivation. This study investigates organizational justice perception and its impact on knowledge sharing practices among forensic experts in the Turkish National Police. The study findings revealed that senior officers, who are experts in the field, have the strongest organizational justice perception. Meanwhile, noncommissioned officers or technicians bear positive but comparatively weaker feelings about the existence of justice within the organization. The study argues that those who satisfy their career expectations tend to have a higher organizational justice perception.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.129-145
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• 2016

Nowadays, owing to the diffusion of smartphones and the growth of social networking services (SNS), the number of people who share their life with other SNS users by posting photos is increasing. The number of Instagram users has been particularly increasing since Instagram started its service in 2010. Compared to other SNS such as Facebook and Twitter, Instagram runs its service by focusing solely on photos, which is a major differentiation factor compared with other existing SNS. Previous studies, however, do not examine SNS that focus on photo sharing adequately. Therefore, we establish a hypothesis relating to the motivations behind a user's photo sharing attitude and posting intention through Instagram. Moreover, this will be achieved by employing TRA(Theory of Reasoned Action) and focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The analysis results show that intrinsic motivation influences a user's sharing attitude and subjective norms. Apart from this, Instagram's expressivity influences a user's photo sharing attitude and posting intention.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.21-54
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• 2015

A bunch of management studies have repeatedly revealed that the extent of knowledge sharing across organization contributes significantly to the firm's sustainable competitiveness. However, in reality, it is a hard fact that we must admit that many individuals working in competitive situations always feel reluctant to share knowledge. Especially, positive and negative emotions play an important role in changing individual' s intentions about knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization as well. Intention about knowledge sharing is usually hindered by in-group rivalries. Also employees feel negative in sharing their knowledge with colleagues when they expect to receive little support and recognition in return after doing that. These considerations point out the importance of individual's knowledge sharing and the role of knowledge management in order to assure competitiveness. Considering these facts, the main purpose of this study is to investigate why people is willing or unwilling to share their knowledge with others and utilize the knowledge in the competitive context where potential rivalry is still expected. In answering these research issues, we analyzed 258 valid questionnaires garnered from online community where a number of people has been actively interacting with registered members to share crucial knowledge about sensitive issues. Results revealed that the proposed research issues are adequately solved with significant statistical results.