“Why not use it more?” Sources of self-efficacy in researchers’ use of social media for knowledge sharing
| Date | 08 October 2018 |
| Pages | 1274-1292 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2018-0051 |
| Published date | 08 October 2018 |
| Author | Hussain Alshahrani,Diane Rasmussen Pennington |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
“Why not use it more?”
Sources of self-efficacy in
researchers’use of social media
for knowledge sharing
Hussain Alshahrani
Department of Computer and Information Sciences,
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK and
Shaqra University, Shaqra, Saudi Arabia, and
Diane Rasmussen Pennington
Department of Computer and Information Sciences,
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sources of self-efficacy that researchers rely on
when using social media for knowledge sharing and to explore how these sources impact their use.
Design/methodology/approach –The study employed30 semi-structured interviews with researchersat a
major Scottish university. The authorsanalysed the interview transcriptions using directed content analysis.
Findings –The researchers relied on the four sources of self-efficacy proposed by Bandura (1977) when
using social media for knowledge sharing. These sources lead researchers to use social media effectively and
frequently for sharing knowledge, although some may discourage its use.
Research limitations/implications –It extends the self-efficacy integrative theoretical framework of
Bandura (1977) by presenting the relative amount of the influence of these sources for researchers to share
their ideas, experiences, questions and research outputs on social media. While the participants included
academic staff, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students, the majority were PhD students.
Practical implications –The findings can help universitiesunderstand how to promote productive use of social
media. For example, academic staff who have high personal mastery experience could mentor those who do not.
Originality/value –This is the first known study to investigate the sources of self-efficacy that impact
researchers’use of social media for knowledge sharing.
Keywords Self-efficacy, Social media, Academic staff, Knowledge sharing, Social cognitive theory, Researchers
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
In the last decade, society has increasingly used social media as a method of communicating
and sharing. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media platforms
facilitate people’s sharing of ideas,pictures, comments and other forms of knowledge (Kaplan
and Haenlein, 2010). Researchers routinely share knowledge with others either to improve
their own ideas or to help others develop theirs, and they employ social media platforms to
facilitate this (Panahi et al., 2016a). The benefits of using social media for knowledge sharing
includes the removalof space and time constraints that are inherent in traditionalmethods of
sharing knowledge, online tools that enable one to share multimediacontent, and easy-to-use
interfaces that enable even non-specialists to share and connect (Fotis, 2015).
Social media platforms allow researchers around the world to communicate and share
their knowledge (Panahi et al., 2016a). For example, they can learn what was discussed at
any conference without travelling long distances. In addition, researchers use social media
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 74 No. 6, 2018
pp. 1274-1292
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-04-2018-0051
Received 4 April 2018
Revised 23 July 2018
Accepted 26 July 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
This work was supported by Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. The authors wish to thank the
participants who participated in the study. In addition, the authors would also like to thank Professor
Ian Ruthven and the anonymous reviewers for their beneficial and constructive comments.
1274
JD
74,6
as a channel for visibly presenting themselves and their outputs to those who share the
same interests (Veletsianos, 2016). In other words, social media affords exceptional
opportunities for researchers to engage and interact with each other (Carrigan, 2016).
Researchers can share their research outputs with large numbers of other researchers
using social media, which makes it an important channel for them, since dissemination is
essential (Ellison et al., 2015). Knowledge here refers to tacit (cognitive experience) and
explicit (research outputs). Online, researchers can share what they have learnt and
practiced in their work as well as what they have produced as written communication.
Previous studies discuss either the use of social media for knowledge sharing or the
factors that affect this use (e.g. Bilgihan et al., 2016; Cheung et al., 2013; Cho et al., 2010; Eid
and Al-Jabri, 2016; Kwahk and Park, 2016; Ma et al., 2014; Oh and Syn, 2015). However,
understanding of these phenomena are still in the early stages and need more investigation
(Edwards et al., 2017; Panahi et al., 2012; Razmerita et al., 2014).
According to prior work (e.g. Cheung et al., 2013; Cho et al., 2010; Kwahk and Park, 2016;
Vuori and Okkonen, 2012), self-efficacy is one of the most significant factors that influences
the use of social media for knowledge sharing. Self-efficacy is defined as “a judgment of
one’s capability to accomplish a certain level of performance”(Bandura, 1986, p. 391). This is
operationalised in this study as researchers’perceived ability to use social media for
knowledge sharing. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is constructed from four
main sources: performance accomplishments; vicarious experience; verbal persuasion; and
emotional arousal. These four sources are defined in this study as follows:
(1) performance accomplishments or personal mastery experiences refer to the positive
or negative past experiences that influence researchers’ability to use social media
for sharing knowledge;
(2) vicarious experience refers to the mimicry of other researchers who effectively use
social media for knowledge sharing by observing their performance and successes,
and then attempting to replicate their behaviours;
(3) verbal persuasion refers to encouragement and discouragement from colleagues or
institutions that influence the researchers’decisions surrounding whether to use
social media for knowledge sharing; and
(4) emotional arousal refers to psychological reactions based on researchers’positive
and negative experiences of this use.
Despite the importance of self-efficacy in the use of social media, no attention has been paid to
its relationship to social media use. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the sources of
self-efficacy that researchers rely on to use social media for knowledge sharing, and to explore
how these sources impact this use. Thus, this study addresses the following research questions:
RQ1. What sources of self-efficacy do researchers rely on in the use of social media for
knowledge sharing?
RQ2. How do these sources impact the use of social media for knowledge sharing?
The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. First, a relevant literature review is
provided. Next, the methodology used in the study is explained. Then the findings of the
study are presented. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and
future research directions.
2. Literature review
2.1 Self-efficacy and its sources
Self-efficacy, a theoretical component of social cognitive theory, is defined as “a judgment of
one’s capability to accomplish a certain level of performance”(Bandura, 1986, p. 391).
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Researchers’use
of social media
for knowledge
sharing
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