TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge sharing in virtual communities
T2 - A study of citizenship behavior and its social-relational antecedents
AU - Xu, Bo
AU - Li, Dahui
AU - Shao, Bingjia
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 09CTQ023).
PY - 2012/5
Y1 - 2012/5
N2 - A virtual community is a type of online structure that enables Internet users to communicate and collaborate. Users' knowledge contributions are critical to the viability and sustainability of virtual communities. This article studies virtual community members' knowledge sharing from the perspective of citizenship behavior defined as members' spontaneous contribution to the community without expectation of return or reciprocation. The social-relational antecedents of citizenship behavior are explored through an examination of how members' general attitude and desire for relationship building and maintaining, including attachment motivation, social support orientation, and disposition to trust influence their trusting beliefs and citizenship knowledge-sharing behavior. Hypotheses are developed and tested with survey data from Chinese and American users of virtual communities. In general, the results of data analyses support our research model. This article contributes empirically to virtual community research and has practical implications for virtual community development.
AB - A virtual community is a type of online structure that enables Internet users to communicate and collaborate. Users' knowledge contributions are critical to the viability and sustainability of virtual communities. This article studies virtual community members' knowledge sharing from the perspective of citizenship behavior defined as members' spontaneous contribution to the community without expectation of return or reciprocation. The social-relational antecedents of citizenship behavior are explored through an examination of how members' general attitude and desire for relationship building and maintaining, including attachment motivation, social support orientation, and disposition to trust influence their trusting beliefs and citizenship knowledge-sharing behavior. Hypotheses are developed and tested with survey data from Chinese and American users of virtual communities. In general, the results of data analyses support our research model. This article contributes empirically to virtual community research and has practical implications for virtual community development.
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U2 - 10.1080/10447318.2011.590121
DO - 10.1080/10447318.2011.590121
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84859635648
SN - 1044-7318
VL - 28
SP - 347
EP - 359
JO - International journal of human-computer interaction
JF - International journal of human-computer interaction
IS - 5
ER -