| Summary: | 博士 === 國立中正大學 === 資訊管理學系暨研究所 === 100 === Over the past few decades, the emerging of Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) technology has led to an evolution of online communities. Online communities are regarded as some glue that sticks people with similar and focused interests so that they can discuss and solve each other’s problems. For an online community to evolve and prosper, the biggest challenge is how to make members willing to join and share knowledge frequently. There is so much happening on the Internet that people do not return to a silent community because no one wants to be part of a conversation where no one says anything
However, it is not obvious why individuals participate in online community and share knowledge with strangers for no apparent benefit. What are the critical factors influencing such behavior? To attempt to understand this paradox, we combined the social cognitive theory and involvement theory to investigate the factors influencing knowledge sharing behavior in online community.
The research constructs were developed based on existing measures when possible or on similar scales. All scale items were rephrased to relate specifically to the context of online community. An empirical study was undertaken and the data of 416 responses from information contributors in communities was collected. The model and hypotheses were tested in structural equation modeling technique. Research findings are described as follows: (1) in personal factor, knowledge sharing self-efficacy, personal outcome expectation, community-related outcome expectation, and perceived relative advantage were positive significantly influence involvement. (2) in object factor, identification, openness, generalized trust, and shared language were positive influence involvement. (3) involvement was a strong predictor of commitment and intention of continuous knowledge sharing. (4) commitment was positive significantly influence intention of continuous knowledge sharing.
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