ABSTRACT

This paper develops a contingency model to examine whether the impact of costs and benefits (derived from social exchange theory) are contingent upon factors related to the social context, such as norms and generalized trust (derived from social capital theory) in virtual communities. In general, the results suggest that costs negatively affected one’s intention to share knowledge, whereas benefits positively affect one’s intention to share knowledge. Particularly, while the effort of knowledge sharing has a direct effect on one’s intention to share knowledge, the effect of loss of knowledge power is contingent upon pro-sharing norms. While two intrinsic benefits (enjoyment in helping others and social affiliation) have direct effects on one’s intention to share knowledge, the impact of the extrinsic benefit (i.e., online status seeking) is contingent upon prosharing norms. Generalized trust has also the potential to moderate the impact of online status seeking on one’s intention to share knowledge.

摘要

本文建立了一个权变模型，以检验成本和收益的影响（源自社会交换理论）是否取决于与社会环境相关的因素，例如虚拟社区中的规范和广义信任（源自社会资本理论）。总体而言，结果表明，成本对一个人分享知识的意图产生负面影响，而利益则对一个人分享知识的意图产生负面影响。特别是，尽管知识共享的努力直接影响一个人共享知识的意图，但是知识力量的丧失取决于共享规范。两种内在利益（享受帮助他人和建立社会联系）会直接影响一个人分享知识的意图，而外在利益（即 寻求在线身份）取决于共享规范。普遍信任也有可能减轻寻求在线身份对共享知识意图的影响。