Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories
Introduction
The proliferation of network access has facilitated the rapid growth of virtual communities. The impact of virtual communities is increasingly pervasive, with activities ranging from the economic and marketing to the social and educational [70]. Many individuals participate in virtual communities, especially in professional virtual communities (i.e., virtual communities of practice: CoPs), for seeking knowledge to resolve problems at work. According to the BUSINESS WEEK/Harris Poll, 42% of those involved in a virtual community say it is related to their profession [38]. Driven by a knowledge economy, many organizations have recognized knowledge as a valuable intangible resource that holds the key to competitive advantages [33] and begun to support the development and growth of CoPs to meet their business needs and objectives. For example, Caterpillar Inc. — a Fortune 100 manufacturer of construction and mining equipments, launched its Knowledge Network as a Web-based system delivered via Internet to 12 CoPs in 1999 [61]. Now, Caterpillar's Knowledge Network thrives with 3000 tightly focused CoPs. Such a project has been successful, showing a 200% return-on-investment (ROI) and more than 700% ROI for its external communities. Information technology (IT) industry has also gained positive feedbacks from virtual communities. Davis Dorbin, an analyst at B2B Analysis Inc., pointed out that Java has succeeded partially because it has global virtual communities where developers can trade notes and share codes [68].
However, without rich knowledge, virtual communities are of limited value. Jay Marathe, the head of consulting at Durlacher Research Ltd, pointed out that content (i.e., knowledge) of virtual communities is the king [41]. The significance of member-generated content cannot be over-emphasized. Though difficult to stimulate, it is this characteristic more than any other that defines the virtual community [34]. Clearly, the biggest challenge in fostering a virtual community is the supply of knowledge, namely the willingness to share knowledge with other members. It is then important to explain why individuals elect to share or not to share knowledge with other community members when they have a choice. Identifying the motivations underlying the knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities would help both academics and practitioners gain insights into how to stimulate knowledge sharing in virtual communities. To this end, two complementary social theories are applied: the Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Capital Theory.
The Social Cognitive Theory [9], [10] has been widely applied in the information systems (IS) literature with demonstrated validity. The theory defines human behavior as a triadic, dynamic, and reciprocal interaction of personal factors, behavior, and the social network (system). Of all the factors that affect human functioning, and standing at the core of the theory, are self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Self-efficacy is “a judgment of one's ability to organize and execute given types of performances,” whereas an outcome expectation is “a judgment of the likely consequence such performances will produce” ([11], p. 21). Several recent studies drawing upon the Social Cognitive Theory have examined the relationship between personal cognition, i.e., self-efficacy and/or outcome expectations, and computer use and Internet behaviors [23], [40], [39], [50].
Virtual communities are online social networks in which people with common interests, goals, or practices interact to share information and knowledge, and engage in social interactions. It is the nature of social interactions and the set of resources embedded within the network that sustains virtual communities. Therefore, studies on virtual communities address issues related to both personal cognition and social network and should be different from the aforementioned studies concerning computer use and Internet behaviors, which focus only on personal cognition. However, the Social Cognitive Theory is limited in addressing what components are within a social network and how they influence an individual's behavior, necessitating the introduction of additional theory as the foundation for exploring the impact of social network on knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Consequently, the Social Capital Theory is introduced to supplement the Social Cognitive Theory to address our research questions.
The Social Capital Theory suggests that social capital, the network of relationships possessed by an individual or a social network and the set of resources embedded within it, strongly influence the extent to which interpersonal knowledge sharing occurs [55]. Bandura [10] also argues that individuals' behavior is a product of their social network. Through close social interactions, individuals are able to increase the depth, breadth, and efficiency of mutual knowledge exchange [45]. Nahapiet and Ghoshal [55] define social capital with three distinct dimensions: structural (the overall pattern of connections between actors), relational (the kind of personal relationships people have developed with each other through a history of interactions), and cognitive (those resources providing shared representation, interpretations, and systems of meaning among parties).
The study draws on both the Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Capital Theory to investigate the influence of outcome expectations and facets of the three dimensions of social capital on the knowledge sharing in virtual communities in terms of quantity and quality. Following Nahapiet and Ghoshal [55], the structural dimension of social capital is manifested as social interaction ties, the relational dimension is manifested as trust, norm of reciprocity and identification, and the cognitive dimension is manifested as shared vision and shared language. Following Compeau and Higgins [23], two types of outcome expectations concerning knowledge sharing are identified: community-related and personal. The professional virtual community under study is a global virtual community that can be accessed by its members via the Web and the knowledge sharing is voluntary. In a voluntary setting, individuals who have no confidence in their ability to share knowledge would be unlikely to perform the behavior. Therefore, the research model does not include self-efficacy. The proposed theoretical model is shown in Fig. 1.
This paper makes three key contributions. First, it extends the concept of outcome expectation to include both personal and community-related outcome expectations. This study emphasizes that not only expectation of personal benefits but also expectation of benefits to professional virtual communities can stimulate knowledge sharing. Second, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that completely follows Nahapiet and Ghoshal's [55] manifestations of the three dimensions of social capital and applies them to the study of knowledge sharing in a professional virtual community, reflecting more accurately the important facets of social capital in studying knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities. Third, while previous research has predominately focused on personal cognition or social network, the study examines the integrated influence of outcome expectations and social capital on knowledge sharing in virtual communities. In sum, by explicating the unique role of social capital and outcome expectations, this paper aims at contributing to the continued development and success of virtual communities in general.
Section snippets
Social Cognitive Theory and knowledge sharing
People who come to a virtual community are not just seeking information or knowledge and solving problem; they also treat it as a place to meet other people, to seek support, friendship and a sense of belongingness [4], [80]. In other words, they attempt to develop social relationships with other people inside the community [81]. According to the Business Week/Harris Poll, 35% of those involved in a virtual community say their community is a social group [38].
The Social Cognitive Theory argues
Hypotheses
Virtual communities differ notably from conventional organizations. There is no concrete reward system in place to reinforce the mechanisms of mutual trust, interaction, and reciprocity among individuals. However, online knowledge sharing activities cannot be successful without the active participation of online members. Lack of motivation from a knowledge contributor impedes the knowledge sharing. Under such circumstances, social capital becomes all the more important, because the resources
Measurement development
Measurement items were adapted from the literature wherever possible. New items were developed based on the definition provided by the literature. A pretest of the questionnaire was performed using 6 experts in the IS area to assess its logical consistencies, ease of understanding, sequence of items, and contextual relevance. The comments collected from these experts led to several minor modifications of the wording and the item sequence. Furthermore, an online pilot study was conducted
Summary of results
This study helps understanding the complex process in which outcome expectations and social capital influence knowledge sharing in virtual communities. The results indicate that community-related outcome expectations play an important role underlying knowledge sharing in terms of both quantity and quality, while personal outcome expectations have a negative but insignificant effect on quantity of knowledge sharing. The negative relationship between personal outcome expectations and quantity of
Chao-Min Chiu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Management at the National Central University, Taiwan (R.O.C.). He holds a Ph.D. in Management from the Rutgers University. His current research interests include electronic commerce, electronic learning, and knowledge management. His research has appeared in Decision Support Systems, Information and Management, Behaviour and Information Technology, Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, Information and Software Technology,
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Chao-Min Chiu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Management at the National Central University, Taiwan (R.O.C.). He holds a Ph.D. in Management from the Rutgers University. His current research interests include electronic commerce, electronic learning, and knowledge management. His research has appeared in Decision Support Systems, Information and Management, Behaviour and Information Technology, Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, Information and Software Technology, Information Systems Management, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Journal of Information Science, and others.
Professor Meng-Hsiang Hsu holds a Ph.D. degree from National Sun-Yat-Sen University, Taiwan. He is currently a faculty at the Department of Information Management, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology. Professor Hsu's research interests include information ethics and electronic commerce. He has published articles in Decision Support Systems, Journal of Business Ethics, Behaviour and Information Technology, Industrial Management and Data Systems, and others.
Eric T.G. Wang is a Jing Ding Professor and the Dean of the School of Management at the National Central University, Taiwan (R.O.C.). He received his Ph.D. degree in Business Administration, specialized in computer and information systems, from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester. His research interests include electronic commerce, outsourcing, organizational economics, and organizational impact of information technology. His research has appeared in Decision Support Systems, Management Science, Information Systems Research, Information Systems Journal, Information and Management, Omega, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Information Management, and others.