Motivators of Researchers' Knowledge Sharing and Community Promotion in Online Multi-Background Community

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-49
Author(s):  
Siwei Sun ◽  
Fangyu Zhang ◽  
Victor Chang

As an essential group in knowledge innovation, researchers are encouraged to exchange ideas with each other for further brainstorm through advanced communication technology. However, efficient online knowledge sharing among researchers is still limited. Although past literature proposes a series of motivators of online knowledge sharing, the differences in the effects of motivators remain in dispute. Thus, it is time to understand how motivators influence each other and inspire scientists to share knowledge and promote virtual communities. Based on the self-determination theory, this study proposes a model with several factors and analyze 301 Chinese researchers' data in an online WeChat cross-disciplinary research community by adopting SmartPls 2.0 and SPSS 22. The results reveal the effects of several antecedents and mediating effects of altruism and knowledge sharing behavior and report the differences of results among different demographic groups. This study enriches the literature in knowledge sharing on social media and proposes further research points to researchers and useful advice to practitioners.

Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Su-Ying Wu ◽  
Wei-Tsong Wang ◽  
Yu-Han Hsieh

PurposeThis study examines the role of user psychological empowerment (PE) as a specific type of PE in the context of using health information systems (HIS) and incorporates the contribution of autonomous motivation and knowledge sharing intention (KSI) to the resolution of the key dynamics of interpersonal knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) in healthcare organizations.Design/methodology/approachFor the data analysis, survey data were collected from 350 employees at three large teaching hospitals in Taiwan. In this study, the partial least squares technique was used with SmartPLS 3.3 software to validate the research model.FindingsUser PE had significant positive effects on autonomous motivation, KSI and KSB. Additionally, autonomous motivation positively affected KSB directly and indirectly via KSI.Practical implicationsInsights into motivation (e.g. user PE and autonomous motivation) play a key role in driving KSI and lead to effective KSB, which aids managers in tailoring their efforts to foster knowledge dissemination and enhance organizational performance.Originality/valueWhile finding ways to encourage employees to share knowledge with one another in an organization is an important task, there exists a lack of understanding as to how this task can be accomplished in the context of healthcare organizations. This study is the first to specifically address this issue from a perspective integrating PE and self-determination theory while also incorporating the HIS context with population-specific measures (healthcare organizations) to expand the application of empowerment theory to the information system domain.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Shen Chen ◽  
Shih-Feng Chang ◽  
Chih-Hsing Liu

Virtual communities have gained popularity as a means for individuals to learn and share knowledge. However, knowledge-sharing motivation, incentive mechanisms, and satisfaction in these communities have not been examined in detail. Using survey data from 169 community members, we investigated the conditions under which motivation, incentive mechanisms, and satisfaction affect knowledge-sharing behavior. We found that the incentive mechanism is a significant predictor of a virtual community member's motivation to obtain knowledge, and that the incentive mechanism and motivation do not positively affect a member's satisfaction that causes him/her to engage willingly in knowledge sharing with others in virtual communities.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsus Suti ◽  
Harmita Sari

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how social capital (e.g. structural, cognitive and relational) influences trust (e.g. cognitive-/affective-based trust), which includes influencing knowledge-sharing behavior for Indonesian Facebook users in the context of social networking sites. Design/methodology/approach Indonesian students were recruited for an online survey study. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings Social capital has a crucial role in increasing cognitive-based trust and affective-based trust. Furthermore, affective-based trust is a partial mediator between social capital and knowledge-sharing behavior, whereas cognitive-based trust is a full mediator between social capital and knowledge-sharing behavior. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to Indonesian Facebook users. Future research needs to examine specific conditions, situational contexts and sub-cultures that may influence social capital, trust and knowledge-sharing behaviors of Facebook users in other parts of the world. Practical implications The education stakeholders can identify the user objectives and rational concerns to improve their social capital and trust and support their valuable and unique experiences to share knowledge. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on virtual communities. Specifically, it considers how social capital influences trust, which subsequently affects knowledge-sharing behavior based on the uses and gratifications theory among Facebook users.


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