Knowledge sharing in online communities

As organizations increase their offshore software development efforts, they must develop new methods and models for handling the vast amount of knowledge involved in these projects. Successful knowledge management and transfer is considered key to the success of contemporary organizations. When transferring knowledge to other operating units of a multi national company, the overall goal is to successfully implement the knowledge sent to the receiver. Cultural differences however, can interfere with successful knowledge management intentions. This paper investigates storytelling as a tool to transfer knowledge between global corporate units. A case study on how this instrument is used to communicate knowledge between a German and an Indian IT company gives first insights into factors that influence implementation success

Importance of mutual benefits in online knowledge sharing communities

The sustainability of knowledge sharing e-communities is a major issue at present. A hypothesis was proposed at the outset in the paper that the provision of mutual benefits among participants will lead to positive participation. Drawing from the economic and social theories, a framework for analysis was developed and tested in an empirical study. The preliminary results demonstrated a direct relationship between mutual benefits and the level of participation, and hence supported the hypothesis

Knowledge Sharing in Online Cancer Survivorship Community System: A Theoretical Framework

Innovative uses of technology to support patient to patient or patient to clinician knowledge sharing are emerging through professional health institutions and communities that take advantage of social networking technologies. Although successful online health communities exist, many such communities do fail. Researchers have stated that the reason for these failures is due to the lack of evidence-based, scientific guidance in building and managing online communities. Knowledge sharing among participants is important for the survival of online health communities. The most difficult and challenging task for online health communities is to understand why certain participants share knowledge in a sustained manner while others do not. The purpose of this study is to identify the conditions that will predict and prescribe a successful online health community. We propose a theoretical model that presents computer self-efficacy, system capabilities, patient characteristics, appropriation support as determinants of knowledge sharing. We also propose that knowledge sharing affects satisfaction, and frequent usage of online health community networks within online cancer survivorship community

The More You Give the More You Get Back: Moderating Effect of Leadership on Knowledge Sharing in Online Programming Communities

Although there is a significant growth of emerging online programming communities, little succeeded in encouraging members to contribute and share their knowledge. The role of leadership to address the under contribution problem is gaining attention among researchers. This study grounded on path-goal theory to Investigates specifically the role of supportive leadership and achievement oriented leadership behaviour toward knowledge sharing in online programming community (OPC). This introduced model is tested empirically using data collected from 20 online programming communities. The findings from the analysis suggests that self-efficacy and outcome expectancy influences knowledge sharing behaviour of members in online programming community. The finding implied that although online communities are informal in nature, the appropriate type of leadership can boost the members’ efficacy and outcome expectancy toward sharing their knowledge, with the suitable level of autonomy and recognition of members contributions can motivate members to continuously contribute to online programming communities and promoting the sustainability in this platform

Online communities: utilising emerging technologies to improve crime prevention knowledge, practice and dissemination

Foreword: Online communities are increasingly being recognised as a way of sharing ideas and knowledge among different practitioner communities, particularly when practitioners are not able to meet face to face. This paper explores the considerations associated with establishing online communities for crime prevention practitioners, drawing on research from across the community of practice, online community and knowledge management sectors. The paper provides an overview of the administrative considerations of online community development, as well as the key barriers and enablers to practitioner engagement in an online community, and the potential implications for a crime prevention-specific practitioner community. As such, it is a useful tool for those in the crime prevention sector wanting to maximise the influence of an existing online community or to guide those contemplating the implementation of an online community of practice in the future

Attitudes and Behaviors in Online Communities: Empirical Studies of the Effects of Social, Community, and Individual Characteristics

Online communities and communities of practice bring people together to promote and support shared goals and exchange information. Personal interactions are important to many of these communities and one of the important outcomes of personal interactions in online communities and communities of practice is user-generated content. The three essays in the current study examines behavior motivation in online communities and communities of practice to understand how Social and personal psychological factors, and user-generated influence attitudes, intentions and behaviors in online communities. The first essay addresses two research questions. First, how does Social capital influence exchange and combination behaviors in online communities of practice? Second, how does absorptive capacity moderate the impact of exchange and combination behaviors on individual and community performance outcomes? Using a sample of 187 participants recruited from online communities of practice, the results of this study support the hypothesized relations between Social capital, and exchange and combination behaviors. Additionally, the moderating role of absorptive capacity is also supported. The second essay draws on Social identity and personal motivation theories to examine the following research questions. First, how do Social identity, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivations influence knowledge seeking and sharing behaviors in online communities? Second, how do knowledge seeking and sharing behaviors affect satisfaction with a community? Third, how do extrinsic and intrinsic motivations moderate the outcomes of knowledge seeking and sharing behaviors? To answers these research questions, a sample of 152 participants were recruited from a number of online communities. The results of this study indicate that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are significant predictors of knowledge seeking and sharing behaviors in online communities, and these behaviors also have a positive impact on satisfaction. Only one of the dimensions of Social identity has a positive impact on knowledge seeking and sharing behaviors in online communities. Using the theoretical lenses of elaboration likelihood model and Social presence, this study investigates two research questions. First, how do Social presence, source credibility, and content quality influence attitudes and intentions towards online communities? Second, how does knowledge affect those relationships? The research questions are investigated in a 2X2X2 factorial experiment with random assignment of 256 participants to one of the eight online communities. The results support all the hypothesized direct effects; two of the three hypothesized mediated relationships are also supported. The result provides insights into attitude formation, informs research on online communities and user-generated content, and has implications on the management and support of online communities. The results from the three studies inform research on online communities by providing insights into behavior motivations and outcomes, and the role of user-generated content. The findings are discussed in detail, along with theoretical and practical implications, and directions for future research

Knowledge Sharing in Social Networking Sites: How Context Impacts Individuals’ Social and Intrinsic Motivation to Contribute in Online Communities

Knowledge-sharing research in online communities has primarily focused on communities of practice and the social factors of knowledge-sharing behavior in organizational contexts. Academic research has not rigorously examined non-business-oriented online communities as venues for facilitating knowledge sharing. Thus, in this paper, we address this research gap by examining the contextual roles of anonymity and community type on an individual’s social and individual drivers of knowledge-sharing attitude in social networking sites. Using social capital theory as a theoretical backbone, we propose and empirically validate a relational model through a survey of 329 users of Facebook, LinkedIn, and CNET. From analyzing the data with the partial least squares (PLS) method, we found strong explanatory power of the proposed research model. We discuss our study’s implications for both research and practice

Using Reputation System to Motivate Knowledge Contribution Behavior in Online Community

In this study, we present a theoretical model of motivations explaining the relationship between reputation system and knowledge contribution in online communities. Knowledge contribution is modeled as a response to varied motivations (base on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). These motivations are proposed to be influenced by the availability of reputation systems. We test this model in an experiment. Given the importance of global knowledge sharing in today’s world, we expect our findings will be useful to inform the design of online knowledge-sharing communities