Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities英文资料.pdfVIP

Decision Support Systems 42 (2006) 1872 – 1888 /locate/dss Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories Chao-Min Chiu a,⁎, Meng-Hsiang Hsu b , Eric T.G. Wang c a Department of Information Management, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan, ROC b Department of Information Management, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC c Department of Information Management, School of Management, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan, ROC Received 18 March 2005; received in revised form 3 March 2006; accepted 2 April 2006 Available online 5 June 2006 Abstract The biggest challenge in fostering a virtual community is the supply of knowledge, namely the willingness to share knowledge with other members. This paper integrates the Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Capital Theory to construct a model for investigating the motivations behind peoples knowledge sharing in virtual communities. The study holds that the facets of social capital — social interaction ties, trust, norm of reciprocity, identification, shared vision and shared language — will influence individuals knowledge sharing in virtual communities. We also argue that outcome expectations — community-related outcome expectations and personal outcome expectations — can engender knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Data collected from 310 members of one professional virtual community provide support for the proposed model. The results help in identifying the motivation underlying individuals knowledge sharing behavior in profe