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Determinants of knowledge seeking in professional virtual communities
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As knowledge management systems within organisations, professional virtual communities (PVCs) are popular knowledge-seeking tools, which bring together geographically dispersed members from outside of the organisations. An increasing number of employees use PVCs for knowledge seeking, knowledge exchange and problem solving at work. Why do members choose to receive knowledge from other community members in PVCs needs to be understood. This paper extends Ajzen's [1991. The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50 (2), 179–211] theory of planned behaviour to elicit external beliefs in terms of personal motivation, as well as technological and social factors, and to examine the relative importance of these factors. According to this study's online survey of 323 members in three PVCs, the results show that the significance of beliefs, such as system quality, compatibility, trust, knowledge growth and knowledge quality, in creating positive attitudes towards knowledge seeking. Community identification is shown as a salient belief for the subjective norms of knowledge seeking. System quality and resource availability are revealed as important determinants for perceived behavioural control of knowledge seeking. Knowledge-seeking intention is based on the attitude towards knowledge seeking and the subjective norm of knowledge seeking, whereas knowledge-seeking behaviour is solely determined by knowledge-seeking intention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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... A plethora of insights on the conduits through which various factors might influence students' AP exist (Carmona-Halty et al., 2019;Martínez et al., 2019). However, we know of no prior study on the mediating role of knowledge-seeking intentions (KSI) − the degree to which students are willing to engage in the activities that could help them to acquire knowledge (Lai et al., 2014) − in the AA/SN−AP relationships. Anchored in the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study proposes that KSI could serve as an intermediary through which AA and SN might bolster AP. ...
... Therefore, we expect that academic attitude would be positively associated with knowledge-seeking intentions. The second reason AA and SN seem likely to be positively associated with each other is past research findings that attitudes can influence intentions (Chang et al., 2009;Lai et al., 2014;Veeravalli et al., 2019). Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed: H3: Academic attitude will be positively associated with knowledge-seeking intentions. ...
... We further contend that KSI and AP should be positively associated. We expect this because knowledge-seeking is required to achieve a broader sense of self-confidence, motivating individuals to define their objectives and maintain interests (Cossins, 2017;Lai et al., 2014). Consequently, performance improves. ...
This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the academic performance of international doctoral students in China. In particular, using insights from the theory of reasoned action, this study analyzed the interplay of academic attitude, subjective norms, knowledge-seeking intention, and academic performance. Data were collected from 415 international doctoral students from six universities in China (61.4 % male, 38.6 % female, 45.5 % Asian, 40 % African, 9.4 % European
and 5.1 % American). SPSS (version 23) and AMOS (version 22) were used for data analyses. While academic attitude, subjective norms and knowledge-seeking intentions were found to be positively associated with academic performance, knowledge-seeking intentions mediated the positive relationships of academic attitude and subjective norms with academic performance. The findings suggest that students’ positive attitude toward studies and subjective norms are critical to
their academic performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
... Pink-seeking intentions are an appraisal about a future coping act of pink-seeking (Massoudi 2020;Wilson et al. 2005). In addition, they are based on the attitude towards pink seeking and the subjective norm of pink seeking (Ezzat and Rady 2021;Lai, Chen, and Chang 2014). In general, pinkseeking intentions are related to attitude towards seeking and seeking-related subjective norm (Ezzat and Rady 2021;Massoudi 2020;Rosenthal 2018). ...
... By focusing on beauty or cosmetic products in China, this study limited itself spatially, implying that the findings might not perfectly apply in a different context thus calling for extension of this study. Future studies could enhance knowledge on pink-seeking intentions by employing a longitudinal approach that could trace the proposed developmental stages of pink-seeking intentions (Ezzat and Rady 2021;Lai, Chen, and Chang 2014;Massoudi 2020;Wilson et al. 2005) rather than the cross-sectional one adopted in this study. Beyond considering the development of four stages of pink-seeking intentions, a longitudinal approach would offer additional insight into the creation process of women consumers' experiential relationship quality, and specifically on the influences of induced and organic development of experiential relationship quality (Massoudi 2020;Wilson et al. 2005;Wu and Chang 2023;. ...
This study aims to examine the relationships between pink atmosphere, pink promotion, positive emotions, pink experiential equity, pink experiential relationship quality and pink-seeking intentions. The findings are based on structural equation modeling of a convenience sample of 495 women consumers who have purchased L’Oréal Paris beauty products at three stores in Shanghai. The results contribute to the pink marketing theory by providing additional insights into pink atmosphere, pink promotion, warm glow, sense of belonging, pink experiential equity, pink experiential satisfaction, pink experiential trust, pink experiential loyalty and pink-seeking intentions. These findings are discussed based on both academic and practitioner implications.
... Users' interaction, conceptualized as engagement, is vital for the vibrancy and development of online knowledge communities (Ray et al., 2014). Many studies have investigated knowledge-supplying and discussed knowledge sharing, contribution and hiding (Phang et al., 2009;Lai et al., 2014;Jafari-Sadeghi et al., 2022). It lacks exploration into what responses the knowledge gains and what influences the knowledge generates (Ardichvili et al., 2003;Chiu et al., 2006;Hafeez et al., 2018;Cai and Shi, 2022). ...
... Members of the social community collaborate to form knowledge. Differ from studies that focus on knowledge supply and demand, including knowledge sharing (Lin et al., 2009;Nguyen et al., 2021;Jeon et al., 2011;Casimir et al., 2012), knowledge seeking (Lai et al., 2014;Phang et al., 2009; Lin et al., 2009;Nguyen et al., 2021;Jeon et al., 2011;Casimir et al., 2012) or knowledge hiding (Connelly et al., 2012;Jafari-Sadeghi et al., 2022), our research highlight users' responses to shared risk knowledge and depict the consequences of the knowledge supply. ...
Purpose-Online knowledge communities have emerged as crucial places for knowledge and risk management in the face of systemic risks. The vitality of online knowledge communities requires users' active engagement. This research paper aims to explore how text complex level and text analytic level as effective risk knowledge design leverages encourage users' engagement under different ''riskification'' levels.
Design/methodology/approach-This paper performs linguistic analysis on 210 TED talk transcripts and 38,377 comments from 2002 to 2018. The authors construct the variable of text complex level and conduct ordinary least squares regressions to test the relationships among text complex level, text analytic level and user engagement under different levels of ''riskification'' in the online knowledge community.
Findings-High text complex level decreases engagement, while high text analytic level increases engagement. A high level of ''riskification'' exaggerates the negative effect of text complex level but diminishes the positive effect of the text analytic level.
Originality/value-This research advances knowledge management by highlighting users' engagement and responding to shared risk knowledge from a different perspective than knowledge supply. The focus on risk communication in online knowledge communities broadens the scope of knowledge management literature beyond the confines of organizations. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is among the first studies to propose risk knowledge design approaches for communicating systemic risks.
... Many studies have explored the antecedents of knowledge contribution in online communities, including motivational factors such as altruistic motivation, sense of accomplishment, sense of pleasure, and self-efficacy (Choi et al., 2020;Maheshwari et al., 2021), social factors such as community incentives, community trust, and reciprocity norms (Guan et al., 2018;Wang et al., 2021), and technical factors such as perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (Singh et al., 2018;Lee and Kim, 2018). In comparison, few studies have examined knowledge seeking in online community (Singh et al., 2018;Lai et al., 2014), with most of the research on knowledge seeking focused on the antecedents of knowledge seeking in real organizations, including the impact of individual motivation, social and technological factors on knowledge seeking (He and Wei, 2009;Khansa et al., 2015;Xu et al., 2010). ...
... While existing research has shown that social capital plays an important role in knowledge sharing, most prior studies focus on the direct effects of social capital on knowledge sharing and few examine the critical role of social capital in the relationship between knowledge seeking and knowledge contribution during the knowledge sharing process. In this study we proposed that knowledge seeking behaviors help develop online users' social capital because knowledge seeking stimulates social interactions which help users obtain knowledge and information through the interactive feedback of others (Xu et al., 2010;Lai et al., 2014). Knowledge seekers' social capital further promotes their knowledge contribution because social capital is conducive to users' participation in knowledge sharing in order to reciprocate what they acquire in knowledge seeking, which is a knowledge outflow effect (Yan et al., 2019). ...
Previous research has examined knowledge seeking behaviors and knowledge contribution behaviors in online communities, but it is not clear what is the relationship between knowledge seeking and knowledge contribution, leading to a question on what drives knowledge sharing in online communities. Drawing on the social capital theory, this study proposes that knowledge seeking behaviors lead to knowledge contribution behaviors through online users' social capital which is accumulated as a result of knowledge seeking. Based on the data on >1000 online users' knowledge sharing activities in the Zhihu Community in China, this study provides empirical support for the proposed model and the result show that online community users' knowledge seeking behaviors have a positive impact on their social capital, which is further positively related to their knowledge contribution behaviors – a partially mediated process. This study enriches current research on knowledge sharing in the increasingly digitalized society, and the findings provide important insights on knowledge sharing activities that will help manage knowledge exchange more effectively in online communities.
... In more advanced online communities, professional virtual communities have become a platform for members to use for knowledge sharing to solve problems at work. Lai et al. (2014) discovered that system quality, compatibility, knowledge growth and quality and trust were crucial in developing a positive attitude toward knowledge seeking in professional virtual communities. Like professional virtual communities, social Q&A sites consist of multiple online communities comprising millions of registered users. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to review the role of knowledge-sharing and its association with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). TPB is the most used theory in understanding knowledge-sharing behavior in many contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the bibliometric approach, this study extracted and analyzed 229 journal articles on the Web of Science. In addition, two analyses (bibliographic coupling and co-word) were performed to provide science mapping in presenting the knowledge structure on the present and future research direction on knowledge-sharing and TPB.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that two stand-out clusters are determinants and antecedents of knowledge-sharing behavior based on TPB and the role of the virtual platform and social media in facilitating knowledge-sharing among users.
Research limitations/implications
This study will benefit researchers and scholars in studying individual behavioral traits underpinning TPB in achieving organizational excellence.
Originality/value
This study extends the findings of the previous review because of their limitations on methods. This study confirms the determinants of knowledge-sharing intention and behavior. However, this study suggests integrating TPB with other theories to provide more insights into knowledge-sharing behavior and use online and technology-based platforms to facilitate knowledge-sharing behavior.
... (1) Personal characteristics are mainly based on the internal characteristics of users. For example, Nonaka [21] and Lai [22] believe that the level of user knowledge is extremely important for the contribution of user knowledge. Guan [23] introduced the importance of disclosing self-display information, and Khansa [24] also paid attention to aspects such as user active time. ...
In open innovation platforms, users learn external knowledge through network interaction, and their position in the interactive network has an impact on the user’s sustainable knowledge contribution. Due to the gap in knowledge level, users’ absorption and utilization efficiency of external knowledge is not consistent. We studied the differences in user sustainable knowledge contribution behavior from the perspective of knowledge absorption. We crawled the data of a typical open innovation platform, used LDA to identify the level of user knowledge diversity and social network technology to analyze the user’s network location, and used the negative binomial regression model for empirical analysis. Our results show that knowledge diversity positively affects user knowledge contribution, and network breadth and network depth have positive and negative effects on user knowledge contribution behavior, respectively. In addition, the level of user knowledge diversity moderates the influence of network location on knowledge contribution. In summary, this research not only provides a comprehensive perspective on our current understanding of the contribution behavior of open innovation platforms, but also provides an in-depth understanding of how open innovation platforms can be properly designed to promote continuous contributions.
... Knowledge Seeking Behavior is influenced by three factors, namely; knowledge Seeking attitude, knowledge-seeking intention, and perceived behavior control. Lai et al., (2014) revealed that the importance of beliefs, such as system quality, compatibility, trustworthiness, knowledge growth, and knowledge quality, in creating positive attitudes towards knowledge seeking. Causholli et al., (2021) Audits are conducted by a team of individuals with different levels of knowledge and expertise. ...
Purpose
This study employed self-determination theory (SDT) and the “Motivational affordance–Psychological outcomes–Behavioral outcomes” framework to investigate the relationship between gamification features and knowledge-sharing behavior in online communities.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical model was tested with 281 Chinese users from an online social question and answer (Q&A) community. Partial least square structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data.
Findings
The empirical results revealed that competence mediated the effects of immersion and achievement-related gamification features on knowledge sharing. Moreover, relatedness mediated the effects of immersion, achievement and social-related gamification features on knowledge sharing.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted on a Chinese Q&A platform, and the results may not be generalizable to other cultures or service providers with different goals.
Practical implications
The study's findings indicate that gamification could serve as an effective toolkit for incentivizing and promoting knowledge sharing in online communities. The findings thus provide strategic insights for administrators of online communities seeking to leverage gamification designs to encourage user participation in knowledge-sharing activities.
Originality/value
Research on the role of gamification in promoting knowledge sharing has been limited in scope and has focused on tourism comment communities. Little evidence exists on the effect of gamification within social Q&A communities. Further, the finding of gamification's positive role in motivating knowledge sharing indicates the need for the knowledge-sharing field to focus on contextual factors.
Purpose
Online customer communities have become a strategic tool for business-to-business (B2B) firms to drive collaboration among customers around the company’s products and services. This paper aims to argue that the three social capital dimensions, that is, structural, relational and cognitive, themselves driven by brand community trust, can affect brand loyalty for the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a survey to collect data and structural equation modeling to test the conceptual framework by collecting data from 214 participants across three online B2B communities operated by three technology firms in India.
Findings
Brand community trust is found to have a strong association with social network ties, identification and norm of reciprocity and shared vision. These three have concomitant effects on the quality of customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions. Such communication generates functional, emotional and social benefits, which, in turn, curate brand loyalty.
Practical implications
The authors’ findings guide community managers in leveraging such conversations in shaping customer loyalty for the corporate brand.
Originality/value
This work provides an integrated framework to explain the important role of C2C interactions in B2B online brand communities.
Burnout contributes to the emergence of numerous negative organisational phenomena. Nurses are exposed to high stress working conditions every day, making it important to study burnout among nurses in health care systems. The aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of ethical climate and the LMX relationship on burnout among nurses, as well as to examine the effects of the three moderators (gender, self-awareness and social skills among nurses) on the observed relationships. The sample consists of 326 nurses from 23 hospitals in Serbia. Standardised questionnaires were used, while correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were employed for statistical processing. The dimensions of the ethical climate and LMX relationship have statistically significant impacts and predictive effects on the burnout dimensions. Raising the level of the ethical climate and LMX relationship positively affects burnout: it reduces emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, and increases personal accomplishment and involvement. An adverse ethical climate and unfavourable LMX relationships among men cause greater emotional exhaustion. For nurses with high self-awareness and high social skills, a favourable ethical climate and positive LMX relationships reduce emotional exhaustion, and increase personal accomplishment. For nurses with low self-awareness and low social skills, a favourable ethical climate and positive LMX relationships reduce depersonalisation. Recommendations are made for improving the ethical climate and LMX relationships in hospitals in Serbia.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
Scholars of the theory of the firm have begun to emphasize the sources and conditions of what has been described as “the organizational advantage,” rather than focus on the causes and consequences of market failure. Typically, researchers see such organizational advantage as accruing from the particular capabilities organizations have for creating and sharing knowledge. In this article we seek to contribute to this body of work by developing the following arguments: (1) social capital facilitates the creation of new intellectual capital; (2) organizations, as institutional settings, are conducive to the development of high levels of social capital; and (3) it is because of their more dense social capital that firms, within certain limits, have an advantage over markets in creating and sharing intellectual capital. We present a model that incorporates this overall argument in the form of a series of hypothesized relationships between different dimensions of social capital and the main mechanisms and processes necessary for the creation of intellectual capital.
The focus of this study is to examine the motivations of online community members to share information and rumors. We investigated an online community of interest, the members of which voluntarily associate and communicate with people with similar interests. Community members, posters and lurkers alike, were surveyed on the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, as well as normative influences, on their willingness to share information and rumors with others. The results indicated that posters and lurkers are differently motivated by intrinsic factors to share, and that extrinsic rewards like improved reputation and status-building within the community are motivating factors for rumor mongering. The results are discussed and future directions for this area of research are offered.