Testing an integrative theoretical model of knowledge‐sharing behavior in the context of Wikipedia

Abstract

This study explores how and why people participate in collaborative knowledge-building practices in the context of Wikipedia. Based on a survey of 223 Wikipedians, this study examines the relationship between motivations, internal cognitive beliefs, social-relational factors, and knowledge-sharing intentions. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis reveal that attitudes, knowledge self-efficacy, and a basic norm of generalized reciprocity have significant and direct relationships with knowledge-sharing intentions. Altruism (an intrinsic motivator) is positively related to attitudes toward knowledge sharing, whereas reputation (an extrinsic motivator) is not a significant predictor of attitude. The study also reveals that a social-relational factor, namely, a sense of belonging, is related to knowledge-sharing intentions indirectly through different motivational and social factors such as altruism, subjective norms, knowledge self-efficacy, and generalized reciprocity. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. IntroductionThe phenomenon of collaborative knowledge building has received growing attention from both researchers and practitioners. With the rapid advancement of computermediated communication (CMC) tools (e.g., Web 2.0 applications), knowledge sharing has moved beyond face-toface exchanges to virtual social contexts such as blogs, Received October 8, 2009; revised November 25, 2009; accepted January 8, 2010 © 2010 ASIS&T • Published online 11 March 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/asi.21316 shared Web spaces, online forums, social networking sites, Wikipedia, and shared electronic databases (Hoisl, Aigner, Miksch, 2007;Hsu, Ju,Yen, & Chang, 2006;Klamma, Cao, & Spaniol, 2007). Knowledge in this context is not a static object but a public good collaboratively built, shared, and managed by the collective (Kalman, Monge, Fulk, & Heino, 2002). The notion of knowledge management and learning has been geared towards conversational knowledge building, whereby knowledge has become more collaborative and integrated; sharing of knowledge is also open to users and not just experts (Lin, 2007). Although a large pool of active contributors with diverse expertise is crucial to building such a public knowledge good, studies have reported various inherent problems, such as a lack of participation from users and social dilemmas like free riding (Kalman et al., 2002;Wang & Fesenmaier, 2003).Prior research has identified a variety of factors that influence knowledge sharing and contribution behavior in different computer-mediated environments (CMEs). These include intrinsic and extrinsic rewards (Hoisl, Aigner, Miksch, 2007;Kollock, 1999), social norms (Nov, 2007), social network centrality or network capital (Wasko & Faraj, 2000, altruism (Nov, 2007), knowledge self-efficacy (Hsu et al., 2006;Kalman et al., 2002), perceived ease of participation and trust (Kim, Na, & Rhu, 2007), and political ideology and idealism pertaining to knowledge sharin...

Connecting with the user-generated Web: how group identification impacts online information sharing and evaluation

“…The direct link between group identification and behavioral intent demonstrated in H4 (in the form of the intent to use the advice gleaned from the information pool) extends the work of Cho et al (2010), who found an indirect link between group membership and intent to contribute information to Wikipedia, through generalized reciprocity. However, because Cho et al (2010) measured intent to contribute information (as opposed to actual contributions) and the present study measured intent to accept advice (as opposed to measuring if such advice was actually followed), future research should examine actual behaviors more closely, in order to see whether people are indeed more likely to heed advice and to change their behavior based on information they receive from those people online with whom they share group identity.…”

“…However, because Cho et al (2010) measured intent to contribute information (as opposed to actual contributions) and the present study measured intent to accept advice (as opposed to measuring if such advice was actually followed), future research should examine actual behaviors more closely, in order to see whether people are indeed more likely to heed advice and to change their behavior based on information they receive from those people online with whom they share group identity.…”

“…Because people see themselves as representatives of a social group, they may begin to believe that things that are of value to them would also be of value to other members of the group. Indeed, shared group membership has been found to be positively associated with knowledge self-efficacy or the degree to which a person believes his or her knowledge will be useful to others (Cho et al, 2010). In this way, shared social identity may positively influence how an information provider assesses the value of his or her information to others, as posed in H5:…”

“…In the process, people often come to view online information pools as communities (Cho, Chen, & Chung, 2010;Kim, Zheng, & Gupta, 2011), which can incite among users a sense of group identification or shared identity. This sense of shared group membership may help sustain these communities by encouraging users to trust in information sources and their input, and by encouraging them to also contribute information to these pools themselves.…”

Examining Collective Memory Building in Wikipedia: A Multilevel Network Approach

“…Particularly, the most likely contributors are males with high Internet skills [18]. As for psychological factors, Wikipedia contributors are largely driven by selfconcept motivation [19], altruistic motivations [20], desires to learn [21], gratification obtained from the engagement [22], and a sense of belonging to the Wikipedia community [23]. In addition, features of articles also play an important role in determining contribution patterns.…”