Peer-to-peer valuation as a mechanism for reinforcing active learning in virtual communities: actualizing social exchange theory

Abstract

As knowledge becomes the primary focus of work in many industries, virtual communities and groups are emerging as part of new organizational forms. Within these virtual forms, efficacy of learning in group problem solving and knowledge sharing tasks is influenced by factors such as the level of participation and domination, the level of consensus and cooperation, and satisfaction with group processes. Active collaborative filtering, however, is limited in its ability to motivate a ctive participation. Further, literature reports that virtual discussions are frequently faced with the 'cold-start' problem. In this paper, we apply Social Exchange Theory as a foundation to address these limitations. We posit that by applying the insights provided by Social Exchange Theory, member perceptions of the costs and benefits of participating in the virtual group can be modified over time. By providing active feedback to each member, we can influence his/her behavior and willingness to contribute. We propose a modified architecture for virtual community discussions, and demonstrate both the viability and implementation of this as a Web-based system with the initial version of a prototype that actualizes Social Exchange Theory to encourage active learning and knowledge sharing in a peer-to-peer community.

A Conceptual Framework of Transactive Networks System

“…According to social exchange theory, workers will actively contribute and participate in a community if the level of satisfaction with the processes within such a community, as perceived by them, is high. Tiwana and Bush [48] further identify three possible reasons that could underlie the motivation and commitment of community members to their communities:…”

“…Virtual interaction is aspatial (i.e., not affected by distance), generally asynchronous, acorporal (no co-presence), relatively astigmatic (stigma are markings or behaviors that locate an individual's particular social status), anonymous [7], and accordingly some factors may influence the smooth of communication in virtual environment. The timely exchange of information, frequent interactions, and accurate feedback on each partner's actions will minimize misperceptions and strengthen cooperation in the alliance [20,23], and providing feedback actively to members is considered as principal factor to influence their behavior and willingness to contribute [48]. Moreover, people may be shy of asking 'stupid' questions and thus in light of the need of mechanism to facilitate asking anonymously [1].…”

“…The unwillingness to spend some more time to evaluate each article should be a problem. Tiwana and Bush [48] further develop an active collaborate filtering system which contains a contribution manager dedicated to calculate user's contributions compared to total member's contributions in real-time. Through the offering of active feedback, they argue that such a system will encourage knowledge sharing and increase member participation.…”

Ethical Decisions About Sharing Music Files in the P2P Environment

“…community because of a pre-existing expectation that they will receive something useful in return (Tiwana and Bush, 2000). People with a stronger belief in the norm of reciprocity may further recognize the value of P2P systems.…”

Encouraging contributions in learning networks using incentive mechanisms

“…The social exchange literature (e.g., Davenport & Prusak 1998; Tiwana & Bush 2000; Butler et al 2002; Lui et al 2002; Vassileva 2002; Obreiter & Nimis 2003) suggests four main incentive mechanisms to motivate and encourage community members (in our case, learners) to participate: (1) personal access , or anticipated reciprocity: learner has a pre‐existing expectation that he will receive actionable and useful (extra) information in return; (2) personal reputation : learner feels he can improve his visibility and influence to others in the network, e.g. leading to more work or status in the future; (3) social altruism : learner perceives the efficacy of the LN in sharing knowledge as a ‘public good’, especially when contributions are seen as important, relevant, and related to outcomes; (4) tangible rewards : learners negotiate to get some kind of more tangible asset (financial reward, bond, book, etc.)…”