AlexAndrA durcikovA is an Assistant Professor at the Eller college of Management, university of Arizona. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Systems from university of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include knowledge management and knowledge management systems, the role of organizational climate in the use of knowledge management systems, and IS issues in developing countries. Dr. Durcikova's research appears in the Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, as well as in various national and international conference proceedings.Peter GrAy is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the McIntyre School of commerce, university of Virginia. He has a background in electronic commerce and online information systems, having worked in various information technology and management consulting positions. Dr. Gray researches the intersection of cognition and technology, and focuses on the individual and organizational effects of social technologies, such as knowledge management systems, online communities, and other technologies that enable virtual interaction. His research has been published in AbstrAct: to ensure that knowledge repositories contain high-quality knowledge, knowledge management research recommends that contributions to a repository undergo stringent validation processes. to date, however, no research has studied the impact of such processes on contributors' repository-related perceptions or behaviors. to address this gap, we develop a model based on signaling theory and reinforcement theory to explain how individuals' perceptions of three primary validation process characteristics (duration, transparency, and restrictiveness) impact their perceptions of repository knowledge quality and their contribution behaviors. Our empirical results confirm the importance of implementing review processes that are transparent and developmentally oriented as a way of encouraging knowledge contribution. More broadly, this study underscores the need to develop integrated theoretical models that draw from a variety of reference theories when attempting to explain knowledge-related behaviors. key words And PhrAses: knowledge contribution processes, knowledge management, knowledge repositories, knowledge sharing, knowledge sourcing, reinforcement theory, signaling theory, validation processes. over the PAst decAde, reseArchers And mAnAGers have investigated methods for improving organizational performance by providing employees with better ways of Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 08:56 24 August 2015 82 DurcIkOVA AND GrAy