What drives users’ participation in online social Q&A communities? An empirical study based on social cognitive theory
| Published date | 16 September 2019 |
| Date | 16 September 2019 |
| Pages | 637-656 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-01-2019-0002 |
| Author | Zheshi Bao,Zhiyong Han |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
What drives users’participation
in online social Q&A
communities? An empirical study
based on social cognitive theory
Zheshi Bao
School of Business Administration,
Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China, and
Zhiyong Han
School of Business Administration,
Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine some drivers of users’participation in online social
question-and-answer (Q&A) communities based on social cognitive theory and then identify the underlying
mechanism of this process.
Design/methodology/approach –This study developed a research model to test the proposed hypotheses,
and an online survey was employed to collected data. Totally, 313 valid responses were collected, and partial
least squares structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze these data.
Findings –This study empirically finds that the outcome expectations (personal outcome expectations and
knowledge self-management outcome expectations) are positively related to participation in online social
Q&A communities. At the same time, users’self-efficacy positively influences their participation behaviors. It
can not only directly motivate users’participation, but also indirectly promote participation behaviors
through the two dimensions of outcome expectations. Besides, perceived expertise and perceived similarity
are two positive and significant environmental elements affecting users’participation.
Originality/value –This study extends the understanding about how participation behaviors will be
motivated in the context of online social Q&A communities. Drawing on the social cognitive theory,
constructs were established based on the features of these communities. Meanwhile, some mediating effects in
the motivating process were also discussed.
Keywords Online social Q&A community, Social cognitive theory, Outcome expectations, Self-efficacy,
Environmental elements, Participation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Online social question-and-answer (Q&A) communities, such as Quora and Zhihu, have become
important platforms for individuals to acquire and exchange knowledge. Supported by the Web
2.0 technology, questioners seek knowledge by asking questions, while answerers contribute
knowledge by providing answers to these questions (Guan et al., 2018). For any virtual
community, most contents are usually generated and disseminated depending on users’
participation. That is why previous researchers have pointed out that participation behaviors in
virtual communities are required to be taken into full consideration because they are essential to
the survival of these online platforms (Koh et al., 2007; Bishop, 2007; Sun et al., 2012). Examining
participation in virtual communities will help operators find ways to attract users’attention and
strengthen their influence in these communities. Online social Q&A community also belongs to a
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 71 No. 5, 2019
pp. 637-656
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-01-2019-0002
Received 17 January 2019
Revised 14 April 2019
19 June 2019
Accepted 19 June 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
This work is supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (19CGL067), the Humanities
and Social Sciences Research Foundation of Education Department of Anhui Province (SK2017A0849) and
the General Project of Teaching Research of Quality Engineering in Anhui Province (2016jyxm0026).
637
Online social
Q&A
communities
type of virtual community where all registered users can become content producers, consumers,
and disseminators. Therefore, the level of their users’participation is still a matter of long-term
development of these communities. Moreover, driven by the popularity of social media, a variety
of user-centered online social communities emerge, and meanwhile, many traditional virtual
communities are also equipped with some social networking elements. Thus competition among
these communities is becoming more and more fiercer (Guan et al., 2018). Under this background,
how to retain users and encourage them to participate is worth exploring.
When examining users’behaviors in virtual communities, social cognitive theory, which
reveals the association between situational factors, outcome expectations and personal
behavior (Bandura, 1986) has become a useful theoretical framework. For example, to
investigate the motivations of knowledge sharing in virtual communities, Chiu et al. (2006)
combined social cognitive theory with social capital theory to develop a research model.
From the perspective of social cognitive theory, they found that cognitive factors (shared
language and shared vision) and outcome expectations (community-related outcome
expectations) could engender knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Similarly, some
scholars proposed a model based on social cognitive theory to explore sharing behaviors
within the virtual communities of professional societies, which indicate that knowledge self-
efficacy and outcome expectations are important personal factors affecting users’sharing
behaviors, and meanwhile multi-dimensions of trust could work as environmental factors to
influence their knowledge sharing behaviors (Hsu et al., 2007). Moreover, the connections
between trust, personality traits and information-sharing behavior have also been clarified,
and then indicated how these factors interact with each other in shaping information-
sharing behavior (Deng et al., 2017). However, online social Q&A community can be viewed
as an evolution of traditional virtual communities. Although previous studies have revealed
strong explanatory power of social cognitive theory to analyze usage behaviors, features
related to the process of knowledge production or diffusion and social linkages among users
and questions are required to be considered when employing this theory to examine users’
behaviors in social Q&A communities. Because of this, in recent years, researchers have
tried to explore users’participation, including contributing or sharing knowledge based on
the social or interpersonal features of online social Q&A communities. Some of them
examined users’continuous knowledge contribution behaviors in this type of communities
by combining social capital theory, social exchange theory, and social cognitive theory ( Jin
et al., 2015). They found that knowledge contribution behaviors can be encouraged by a
user’s self-presentation, peer recognition and social learning. Besides, Zhang et al. (2017)
analyzed factors affecting the intentions of sharing knowledge in health Q&A communities
and indicated that social capital could positively affect intrinsic and extrinsic motivations,
which then promote the intention of health professionals and normal users to share
knowledge. Similarly, Guan et al. (2018) focused on users’behaviors regarding knowledge
contribution in social Q&A communities. The findings show that identity-based trust,
feedback from previous knowledge contribution, social exposure, word-of-mouth, and
norms of reciprocity are important drivers of knowledge contribution behaviors.
According to the above studies, it can be found that when discussing participation, no
matter in the context of traditional virtual communities or online social Q&A communities,
attentionwas mainly paid to active usage behaviors, such as knowledgecontribution, sharing
behaviors or knowledge exchange. Especially, Shah et al. (2008) argued that active user
participation should be viewedas the core component of these sites. However, there exist two
lines of understanding aboutparticipation. The firstline of understanding isthat participation
should be regarded as active behaviors. For example, Mathwick (2002) argued that
participation primarily emphasized users’posting and active responsive behaviors. Casaló
et al. (2010) measured participationto show whether users activelyparticipate and contribute
new information. With the deepening of research, many scholars pointed out that some
638
AJIM
71,5
To continue reading
Request your trial