AN INVESTIGATION OF INFORMATION SHARING AND SEEKING BEHAVIORS IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

User participations in virtual communities include both information seeking and sharing behaviors to varying degrees. The intentions to share and to seek information may have different motivations. . However, existing studies rarely analyze the intentions for both types of behaviors. This study explicates the antecedents of the two types of usage intentions – intentions to share and intentions to seek – using a model that integrates social, community, and individual factors. The model is validated using a survey of 502 online investors of the most popular online stock message board in South Korea. The results show that the sense of belonging, entertainment value, and perceived usefulness influence both the intentions to share and seek. In addition, reputation seeking enhances the intention to post while perceived knowledge reduces the intention to seek

User participation intention and social influence in virtual communities

A virtual community ("VC") is a group of people who interact primarily via IT, rather than face-to-face, for informational, social, professional, educational or other purposes. Given the growing popularity and special features of VCs (user-generated contents, virtual social interaction and voluntary participation), this dissertation intends to understand two user behaviors: users' continuance intention to participate and consumer purchase decision. The dissertation consists of three studies. Study 1 focuses on how the quality of user-generated contents and system performance impact users' continuance intention to participate in information-exchange VCs. In particular, this study investigates VC quality from a multi-dimensional perspective. As an extension of Study 1, Study 2 examines the role of users' past behavior on future participation intention. The objective of Study 3 is to understand the role of user-generated contents, namely, user reviews, and system performance in consumer decision-making outcomes in the context of transaction-based VCs. This study differentiates types of social influence developed from user reviews and investigates their sources and impacts on consumer purchase decision and system evaluation. The model also incorporates two individual characteristics to understand consumer differences in the formation of social influence. This dissertation intends to contribute to the IS literature on user behaviors in VCs and the value of VCs. It provides meaningful insights for VC design and management

Social Affiliation Needs as a Motivator of Risky Online Behaviour

In spite of the risks, people often share large quantities of personal information online. The objective of this research was to gain an understanding as to why people take such risks when engaging with others on social networking sites like Facebook. Initially the existence of online communities had to be established, and consideration given to the possibility that these online communities reflected groups found in the real world. The following hypotheses were then tested using an online survey with Likert Scale questions and freeform questions. This data was then triangulated by and supplemented with data received as a result of semi-structured interviews. Interview and survey questions were informed by a full literature review undertaken on the topic. H1: Humans mimic online behaviours including risky behaviours to gain acceptance in online communities. There was insufficient support for this hypothesis. This may be due to the fact that online and real world groups differ in terms of the way in which they communicate. The five senses are not fully engaged in online communication and there is an absence of body language and other non-verbal communication. This difference may determine that there is less need for social affiliation online than in the real world. H2: The need for personal safety online is secondary to the need for social affiliation. Again there was insufficient support for this hypothesis, and even those with online communities of trusted friends drawn from the real world were concerned for their personal safety and configured their privacy settings. However these people were comfortable sharing personal information online with trusted friends, demonstrating that they were under the illusion that their information was private. H3: Humans reflect the values of their friends on social networks to gain their approval. This hypothesis was well supported and indications were that people were more prepared to share personal information online with those who shared their values. They are also unlikely to share controversial information that violated their personal values. The results of this research were viewed through the lens of "The Online Disinhibition Effect" (Suler, 2004), and recommendations made to companies planning online business