The relationship between the sense of virtual community and knowledge-sharing: The mediating role of trust

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2019

Abstract

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numerous studies in the existing literature have investigated the virtual community. However, these studies mainly focus on social networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, etc.). In contrast, a few studies have examined another type of the virtual community, that is, questions and answers (Q&A) networks (e.g., Zhihu, Quora, Stack Overflow, etc.). In these studies, factors and motivations that influence the knowledge-sharing behavior are investigated. However, few studies have examined the sense of virtual community, trust, and knowledge-sharing comprehensively and the relationship among them. The present study focuses on the relationship between the sense of virtual community and individuals' knowledge-sharing. In addition, whether trust plays a mediating role in this relationship is examined. The sense of virtual community, knowledge-sharing, and trust of individuals were measured with questionnaires. A total of 432 users of Q&A networks participated in this study. Results show that there was a positive relationship between the sense of virtual community and knowledge-sharing, with trust, which was positively related to the other two variables, partially mediating this relationship. Moreover, this study reveals that there were statistically significant differences between participants in different ages, education levels, and job occupations, regarding the virtual community sense and trust, except for that there was no significant difference between participants in different ages regarding trust. In addition, there were statistically significant differences between participants in different lengths of time that they registered for, frequencies of access, lengths of usage, and the methods of participating in the virtual community, regarding the knowledge-sharing.

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