Abstract
Besides communicating and sharing information, people on the virtual communities share knowledge as well. However, comparing with the communities in a real world, the motive, structure and level of sharing knowledge are different. From the standpoints of personal motivations, social capital, and organizational rewards, this study examines the factors affecting knowledge-sharing among members in the 3C & computer-related virtual communities. From the factor analysis and multiple regression analysis of 519 questionnaires collected by online survey system, 8 factors are found to be crucial. The “helping others for a long term”, “cohesion of inter-personal relationship”, “commitment to the community”, and “organizational rewards” factors have positive impacts on knowledge-sharing; while “reputation” factor has negative impact; though “professional capability”, “intensity of interaction”, and “equivalence” factors are relevant, they are not statistically significant. From the T test and one-way ANOVA analysis, the results show that demographic attributes and participation experience have impacts on the above factors.
| Keywords: | virtual community; knowledge sharing; personal motivations; social capital; organizational rewards |
|---|
[Chinese Version | Index | Journal of Educational Media and Library Sciences | Other Journals | Subscription form | Enquiry ]
Mail any comments and suggestions to
hkier-journal@cuhk.edu.hk .