Knowledge Sharing in Online Communities: Subjective Norm, Trust, Media Richness, and the Individual’s Role in Knowledge Sharing
Abstract: An online community provides multiple ways to transfer information that are relatively concealed, and multimedia content that attracts numerous participants to seek, acquire, and contribute knowledge. However, without rich knowledge, online communities are of limited value. This paper addresses factors that may influence knowledge-sharing behaviors, and how the individual’s role in knowledge sharing influences the process. We employ a survey method and a structural equation model to investigate the empirical strengths of the relationships in the proposed model. The results show that the behavioral intentions of knowledge sharing are positively associated with subjective norm, trust, and media richness. Furthermore, the findings show partial support for the moderating effects of the role of knowledge-sharing participants.