ANTECEDENTS OF CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS IN OPEN PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

As with organizational development, citizenship behavior should be central to the development and success of open professional virtual communities (OPVC). An increasing literature emphasizes on predicting knowledge contribution behaviors in virtual communities from the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation or benefit perspectives. In line with the consumer behavior literature that distinguishes between hedonic and utilitarian shopping values, we classify these motivations or benefits of knowledge sharing into either hedonic or utilitarian. We propose and test a theoretical model in which hedonic value and utilitarian value are operationalized as formative second-order constructs and examine their effects on members’ satisfaction with sharing knowledge and citizenship behaviors in an open professional virtual community. Data collected from 428 members of one OPVC provide support for the proposed model. The results help understanding how utilitarian value and hedonic value differ in their relationships with satisfaction and VCCB of knowledge contributors. Implications for theory and practice and limitations are discussed

Exploring the Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Knowledge-based Virtual Communities

This study aims to examine what kinds of behaviors constitute virtual community citizenship behaviors (VCCB) and what factors influence community members\u27 willingness to engage in VCCB. In this paper, I propose a theoretical framework consisting of the main antecedents of VCCB (affective commitment, structural embeddedness and membership tenure) and a multi-dimensional VCCB construct (altruism, civic virtue, consciousness, courtesy and loyalty). Additionally, I develop a measure for assessing VCCB. Data are collected from an online discussion forum (The Grad Cafe) to address the research questions of this study. Results indicate that only affective commitment is found to be significantly predictive of the virtual community citizenship behaviors. Finally, implications and recommendations for practitioners in terms of improving the effective functioning of virtual community through the lens of VCCB are described

Exploring the Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Knowledge-based Virtual Communities

This study aims to examine what kinds of behaviors constitute virtual community citizenship behaviors (VCCB) and what factors influence community members\u27 willingness to engage in VCCB. In this paper, I propose a theoretical framework consisting of the main antecedents of VCCB (affective commitment, structural embeddedness and membership tenure) and a multi-dimensional VCCB construct (altruism, civic virtue, consciousness, courtesy and loyalty). Additionally, I develop a measure for assessing VCCB. Data are collected from an online discussion forum (The Grad Cafe) to address the research questions of this study. Results indicate that only affective commitment is found to be significantly predictive of the virtual community citizenship behaviors. Finally, implications and recommendations for practitioners in terms of improving the effective functioning of virtual community through the lens of VCCB are described

Developing a Measure of Virtual Community Citizenship Behavior

This study examines the kinds of behaviors that constitute virtual community citizenship behaviors (VCCB) and tests three factors that may influence community members’ willingness to engage in VCCB. More specifically, the authors propose a multi-dimensional VCCB construct (altruism, civic virtue, consciousness, courtesy, and sportsmanship) and three antecedents of VCCB (affective commitment, structural embeddedness and membership tenure). Four dimensions including altruism, civic virtue, courtesy and loyalty emerged as a result of behavioral examples collection from SMEs using critical incident technique and a VCCB survey with 19 Likert type items reflecting the behavioral examples within each dimension was created. Data was collected from an online discussion forum (The Grad Cafe) to address the research questions of this study. Results indicate that affective commitment was a significant predictor of the virtual community citizenship behaviors. A research agenda for studying VCCB is presented

The Antecedents and Consequences of Crowdfunding Investors’ Citizenship Behaviors – an Empirical Research on Motivations and Stickiness

This study investigates the antecedents (internal and external motivations) and consequences (stickiness intentions) of crowdfunding investors’ citizenship behavior. In addition, this study examines the moderating effects of investors’ perceived project novelty on the relationships between motivations and citizenship behavior. Based on a sample of 226 crowdfunding investors, results indicate that internal and external motivations significantly influence investors’ citizenship behavior, which further affect investors’ stickiness intentions. Furthermore, results show that investors’ perceived project novelty moderates the relationships between internal/ external motivation and citizenship behavior

A Social Relational Model for Firm-Hosted Virtual Communities: The Role of Firm Support

Since the ease of participation and the usefulness of information provided by online groups continue to proliferate in the World Wide Web, people increasingly participate in different forms of virtual community (i.e. online forums, bulletin boards, message boards, chat rooms) for their purposes, such as solving problems, building social relationships, sharing passions, developing professionals. Accordingly, an increasing number of companies are now attempting to exploit this phenomenon by hosting and supporting their own online community for commercial and non-commercial purposes, such as building relationships with their customers, getting their feedback, strengthening the brand, and reducing customer service costs by enabling customer-to-customer problem solving (e.g. Wiertz and Ruyter, 2007). Typical examples of these firm-hosted online communities are Dell Community, Lego® Message Boards, Manhattan GMAT Forums, Ford Forums, iPod (Apple) Discussions, etc. The purpose of this study is to examine factors such as consumers\u27 feelings (sense of community, trust) and the host firm\u27s supports that motivate consumers to exhibit their voluntary contributions and continue their membership in a firm-hosted online community. This dissertation conceptualizes a relational social model in which sense of virtual community and virtual community loyalty are hypothesized to influence customer trust in the host firm and customer citizenship performance (loyalty intention to the host firm, voluntary participation, voluntary cooperation), respectively. Three components of the firm\u27s support to the virtual community—support for member communication, content enhancement and recognition for contribution—are theorized to moderate the relationships between sense of virtual community and trust, and between virtual community loyalty and customer citizenship performance. The overall finding that emerges from the dissertation is that customer citizenship performance is impacted by a customer\u27s sense of virtual community, loyalty to the community, and customer trust in the host firm. Of the three firm support variables, only support for member communication moderates the relationship between virtual community loyalty and voluntary participation. The dissertation makes four theoretical and managerial contributions. First, the paper presents an interdisciplinary review of extant literature on firm-hosted virtual communities and builds on it to develop a conceptualization of relationships between customer-customer social outcomes and customer-business relational outcomes. Second, while previous research has predominantly focused on firm support as an antecedent of trust in customer-business dyadic relationships (Porter, 2004), this research investigates the role of firm support as a moderator of social relational relationships. Third, the study extends the notion of relationship marketing to include customer-customer relationships which has been forgotten in the marketing literature (Clark & Martin, 1994). The implication is that the host firm can use customers themselves to build long-term customer relationships, and based on it to maintain and increase the firm\u27s market share. Finally, from a managerial perspective, this study proposes a general framework that can enable companies to better understand some of the key aspects that define and drive loyalty in online communities. Since sense of community is unique to a specific community, this dissertation also illustrates that a virtual community is an inimitable asset which can be used as a strategic tool to build competitive advantage by a firm in an online environment

Value received from Participating in Virtual Communities and The Impact on Virtual Community Participation

[[abstract]]Wikipidia is a collaborative web site of knowledge sharing platforms. Based on a survey of 202 Wikipedians, this study develop a theoretical framework to examine the relationship between individual value (utilitarian/hedonic) received, group cohesiveness and virtual community participation. Result from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis reveal that individual motivation has positive effect on virtual community participation. Hence, group cohesiveness moderates participants’ motivations on virtual community participation. Most of the past studies on virtual networks knowledge contribution focused only on the individual level, this study address the literature gap by exploring group level and the mutual relationships between participants in virtual communities.[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子

SUSTAINABILITYAND GROWTH OFONLINE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITIES: EXAMINING THE IMPORTANCE OFPERCEIVED COMMUNITYSUPPORTAND PERCEIVED LEADER SUPPORT

Voluntary behaviors (i.e., knowledge contribution and word of mouth) are important to the sustainability and growth of online knowledge communities. Although previous studies have identified various factors leading to knowledge contribution and related behaviors, the underlying psychological processes have rarely been examined. In particular, previous studies have not examined how characteristics of online knowledge communities influence voluntary behaviors through support perception. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature by developing and testing a model to explain voluntary behaviors in online knowledge communities. To develop the research model, we drew on theories of justice, organizational support, and citizenship behavior to explain the influence of characteristics of online knowledge communities on individuals\u27 voluntary behaviors through their perceptions of support from the community and the leader. The research model was tested on survey data collected from 214 online knowledge community users. The results largely supported our model. In particular, we found that pro-sharing norm and information need fulfillment affect perceived community support. Perceived recognition from leader and perceived co-presence of leader affect perceived leader support. Additionally, perceived community support was found to be important in shaping knowledge contribution and word of mouth. Perceived leader support was found to influence individuals\u27 knowledge contribution behavior. Theoretical and Practical implications are discussed

Driving Individuals’ Subjective Wellbeing in Virtual Communities through Interpersonal and Impersonal Mechanisms

In this study, we integrate different research streams—attachment, social identity, and organizational citizenship behavior—to have a better understanding of determinants of individual subjective wellbeing in the context of a virtual community (VC). Attachment is an emotion-laden, target-specific bond between a person and a specific object. Attachment is an important predictor of citizenship behavior, and therefore an important aspect to understand and to enhance in order to promote citizenship behavior. We identify two broad categories of virtual community citizenship behavior: citizenship behaviors directed toward benefitting other individuals (VCCBI), and citizenship behaviors directed toward benefitting the VC (VCCBC). We also identify two distinct attachments: emotional bonds among community members and emotional bonds to the community identity. This study proposes a dual attachment model in which subjective wellbeing is driven mainly by two mechanisms: (1) the interpersonal-based mechanism which relates common bond attachment to VCCBI and subjective wellbeing, and (2) the impersonal-based mechanism which relates common identity attachment to VCCBC and subjective wellbeing. In order to understand the two proposed mechanisms, the research model was tested with data collected from members of a VC

Do Users Mind the Brand Engagement? The Effect of Brand Engagement in Knowledge Sharing Virtual Community

Although previous studies have discussed antecedent mechanisms for user participation and the value it creates in the brand community. Few studies discuss the role of brands, communities, and users in the co-creation of value when virtual communities are established based on users\u27 interests or needs. This paper explored the effect of brand participation on user community engagement intentions/behaviors in virtual communities. Data was collected from China by online survey and empirical analysis was used for hypotheses testing. The result shows that when brands participate in virtual communities, the higher the user\u27s engagement intention, the easier it is for them to make knowledge contribution, which will promote the development and operation of virtual communities. What’s more, in the context of brand participation, brand interactivity will affect the user\u27s community engagement intention and thus the user\u27s knowledge contribution, which will prompt the development of a virtual community. These findings confirmed that virtual community can help to implement circle marketing, interact with consumers, improve consumers\u27 willingness to participate actively, and have positive practical significance for the government and firms