Impacts of normative and hedonic motivations on continuous knowledge contribution in virtual community: the moderating effect of past contribution experience

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the effects of normative and hedonic motivations on continuous knowledge contribution, and how past contribution experience moderates the effects of the motivations on continuous knowledge contribution.Design/methodology/approachBased on goal-framing theory, the present study proposes a comprehensive theoretical model by integrating normative and hedonic motivations, past contribution experience and continuous knowledge contribution. The data for virtual community members' activities were collected using the Python Scrapy crawler. Logit regression was used to validate the integrative model.FindingsThe results show that both normative motivation (reflected by generalized reciprocity and social learning) and hedonic motivation (reflected by peer recognition and online attractiveness) are positively associated with continuous knowledge contribution. Moreover, these effects are found to be significantly influenced by members' past knowledge contribution experience. Specifically, the results suggest that past knowledge contribution experience undermines the influence of generalized reciprocity on continuous knowledge contribution but strengthens the effect of peer recognition and online attractiveness.Originality/valueAlthough the emerging literature on continuous knowledge contribution mainly focuses on motivations as antecedents that promote continuous knowledge contribution, most of these studies assume that the relationship between motivating mechanisms and continuous knowledge contribution does not change over time. The study is one of the initial studies to examine whether and how the influence of multiple motivations evolves relative to levels of past contribution experience.

Continuous knowledge contribution in social Q&A communities: the moderation effects of self-presentation and motivational affordances

“…As the success of social Q&A communities largely depend on the overall knowledge base, it is essential for members to provide a variety of perspectives on various topics. Extant studies have suggested that the motivation driving continuous knowledge contribution by community members differs from that of initial contribution, which is primarily influenced by external factors such as friend recommendations (Dong et al. , 2023).…”

“…Third, most existing studies use questionnaires to collect data (Zhao et al, 2012;Mustafa and Zhang, 2022;Zhang et al, 2021), which may has a bias in self-reporting and only explores the intention or willingness to continue to participate instead of actual behavior. Besides, scholars have noted that users' motivations change over time, leading to the change in their perceptions and behaviors (Dong et al, 2023;Tsai and Bagozzi, 2014). Although a few studies collect actual behavior data of users, they mostly rely on cross-sectional data, which only considers the impact of motivations at a fixed time point and does not adequately account for the potential effects of changing differences over time.…”

“…As the success of social Q&A Continuous knowledge contribution communities largely depend on the overall knowledge base, it is essential for members to provide a variety of perspectives on various topics. Extant studies have suggested that the motivation driving continuous knowledge contribution by community members differs from that of initial contribution, which is primarily influenced by external factors such as friend recommendations (Dong et al, 2023). During the process of making knowledge contributions, other incentive mechanisms, such as social relationships, play a critical role in motivating future contributions (Jin et al, 2015;Dong et al, 2020).…”

“…, 2021), which may has a bias in self-reporting and only explores the intention or willingness to continue to participate instead of actual behavior. Besides, scholars have noted that users' motivations change over time, leading to the change in their perceptions and behaviors (Dong et al. , 2023; Tsai and Bagozzi, 2014).…”