Beyond reciprocity: The bystander effect of knowledge response in online knowledge communities

Understanding Consumers’ Purchase Intention for Online Paid Knowledge: A Customer Value Perspective

“…Social value (self-image expression and relationship support) significantly influences purchase intention in social networking communities [21]. Knowledge community users are usually influenced by social factors [4,5,10,14]. Community social responses [14] and users' community participation [30] help users' social relationships and influence consumer behavior.…”

“…Therefore, consumers may tend to believe that the knowledge contributor respects consumers' rights and payments and offers reliable OPK. Studies suggested that high-quality information enhances users' trust of knowledge communities and engagement because the information they gain from the communities is useful [10,14,37]. Information quality is an important determinant of online learning usage [9,55].…”

“…Social relationship support refers to a consumer's perception of OPK's capability to help establish, develop, and enhance interpersonal relationships. Studies suggested that social responses and emotional support affect users' seeking behaviors and information adoption [10,14]. Consumers' relationships with other consumers positively influence trust [62].…”

“…Second, this study is the first to apply customer value theory to the OPK context to understand consumers' OPK purchase intention. Previous studies used social exchange theory [4,14], social support theory [10], expectation confirmation theory [78], information adoption model [10,13], social capital theory [5,79], motivation theory [5,7], and self-discrepancy theory [63] from a personality traits perspective [80] to investigate why users use knowledge platforms. In terms of paid knowledge, little research examined knowledge as a commodity, and the reasons why consumers purchase OPK remain unclear.…”

“…For example, people who participate in online knowledge searches are more concerned about knowledge characteristics such as specialty, preciseness, and diversity [8]. High-quality information is usually the main driver for people to use a free knowledge search engine or learning systems [9][10][11][12][13][14]. With the development of social media, social factors also became important, such as social support [10] and social responses [14].…”