Motivators of Researchers' Knowledge Sharing and Community Promotion in Online Multi-Background Community

Abstract

As an essential group in knowledge innovation, researchers are encouraged to exchange ideas with each other for further brainstorm through advanced communication technology. However, efficient online knowledge sharing among researchers is still limited. Although past literature proposes a series of motivators of online knowledge sharing, the differences in the effects of motivators remain in dispute. Thus, it is time to understand how motivators influence each other and inspire scientists to share knowledge and promote virtual communities. Based on the self-determination theory, this study proposes a model with several factors and analyze 301 Chinese researchers' data in an online WeChat cross-disciplinary research community by adopting SmartPls 2.0 and SPSS 22. The results reveal the effects of several antecedents and mediating effects of altruism and knowledge sharing behavior and report the differences of results among different demographic groups. This study enriches the literature in knowledge sharing on social media and proposes further research points to researchers and useful advice to practitioners.

The Use of Social Media for Development Communication and Social Change: A Review

“…Trusts have a major role to play in building relationships and collaborations between humanity. Trust is widely studied because this variable is a powerful motivating factor for individuals to share knowledge with others [62,85,105,111]. One is willing to share with others trusted.…”

“…Altruism and expected relationships determine the intention to share knowledge on social media based on Social Cognitive Theory, Social Exchange Theory, and Organization Citizenship Behavior [61]. Research using altruism as a variable includes [61,62,89,104,105]. Hsu's research [61] shows that altruism has a significant effect on knowledge sharing intentions.…”

“…The relationship is the degree to which people believe that they have acquired and strengthened relationships and friendships built from long-term interactions. Relationships are significantly related to individual commitments in virtual communities [34,105]. Expected relations are factors that influence attitudes toward knowledge sharing and subsequently towards the acceptance and intention of using social media [61].…”

“…Reputation as a determinant of knowledge sharing behavior has been widely studied such as the research of [34,92,105,109], studying that reputation is a determinant of knowledge sharing behavior, but some studies investigate reputation as a consequence of knowledge sharing behavior. For example, Moghavvemi's study [62] found that knowledge sharing behavior had a positive effect on student reputation [62].…”