Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of organizational rewards on two forms of knowledge sharing – explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities, and further to explore the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on the effect of virtual community rewards on implicit knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach Based on relevant knowledge sharing theories, this study develops an integrated framework to explore virtual community rewards and tacit and explicit knowledge sharing in a virtual context. This study then collected data from 429 virtual community users in four virtual communities via an online survey. Hierarchical regression analyzes were used to test the proposed research model. Findings The results of this study show that virtual rewards have a significantly positive linear relationship with explicit knowledge sharing but have an inverse U-shape relationship with tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities. In addition, intrinsic motivations including enjoyment and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between rewards and tacit knowledge sharing. Practical implications This study suggests more virtual community rewards may not always lead to more tacit knowledge sharing. Instead, too many rewards may weaken the motivation for tacit knowledge sharing. Knowledge management practitioners should make full use of the positive impact of self-efficacy and enjoyment to set up appropriate reward incentives to encourage knowledge-sharing, in particular, tacit knowledge sharing and to better manage virtual communities. Originality/value This study explores knowledge-sharing behavior in virtual communities, an important step toward more integrated knowledge-sharing theories. While online communities have become increasingly important for today’s knowledge economy, few studies have explored knowledge and knowledge sharing in a virtual context and this study helps to bridge the gap. In addition, this study develops an integrated framework to explore the mechanism through which virtual community rewards affect knowledge sharing with intrinsic motivation mediating this relationship in online communities, which further enriches the understanding on how to use virtual rewards to motivate knowledge sharing behaviors in the virtual context.

Carbon emissions and strategies for reducing them have become hot topics in recent years. This study firstly measured the total amount and the intensity of agricultural carbon emissions (i.e., agricultural carbon emission per capital) in China. The results show that China’s total carbon emission in 2016 was 272.022 million tons, which is 26.67% more than that in 2000, with an average annual increase of 1.67%. It then compared the regional differences of agricultural carbon emissions in China using the method of coefficient of variation and the Theil index. Following this, this paper finally provides scientific and technological support for the reduction of agricultural carbon emissions in China based on a matrix of carbon emission reduction strategies.

No abstract

No abstract