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As social networks and media technology combine, online Q&A communities are playing an important role in satisfying people’s knowledge exchange needs. However, the combination of social networks and media technology does not mean that an exchange of knowledge will occur. Users are the critical components of an online Q&A community, and their active participation is critical for its development. Thus, it is crucial to figure out factors impacting users’ motivation to participate in community activities, especially knowledge contribution. In this study, we focus on user behavior regarding knowledge contribution in social Q&A communities, and differentiate users’ initial participation behavior from continued participation behavior. We collect users’ activity data from a well-known Chinese social Q&A community, and the results show that identity-based trust, feedback from previous knowledge contribution, opportunities of social exposure, word-of-mouth marketing, and pressure from norms of reciprocity have a positive impact on users’ continued knowledge contribution behavior. Accepted version

This study investigates the social support exchange process in social commerce. It confirms the influence of receiving online social support on giving social support meditated by peer relations in social commerce. The theoretical model was examined with data collected from 302 consumers that are involved in social commerce. The partial least squares method was employed to validate the proposed hypotheses. The findings suggest that the effect of receiving social support, that is, informational and emotional supports, on intention to offer support in social commerce is partially mediated by peer relations, that is, trust in peers and the norm of reciprocity. This study enhances our understanding of social commerce research by investigating the social support exchange process among peers. Moreover, this study extends the peer relations perspective to the context of social support exchange in social commerce.

With the current trend of co-creation, companies and consumers increasingly take advantage of online co-creation communities to share and exchange product-related information. In response to the knowledge exchange and collaborative nature of online co-creation, we advance the theoretical understanding of consumer co-creation by considering it as mutual effects and interactions with other consumers. Based on social capital theory, we developed a research model to examine the factors influencing the popularity of customer-generated content using objective data collected from the MIUI online co-creation community in China. A key result of this study is that social networks ties among consumers enable the norm of reciprocity and shared language, which, in turn, influence the popularity of customer-generated content. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Online knowledge community administrators are attempting to encourage their users to contribute knowledge in order to provide value to members and maintain sustainability. A large number of online knowledge communities fail mainly due to the reluctance of users to return the favor and share knowledge. Many studies on this topic have highlighted the importance of reciprocity for knowledge contribution which forms a virtuous feedback loop for the community sustainability. However, it is unclear how reciprocity is developed and what influences its development. Motivated by this, this study focuses on investigating the antecedents of knowledge receivers' reciprocity in online knowledge communities. It formulates and tests a theoretical model to explain reciprocity behavior of community members based on equity theory and Social Identity explanation of De-individuation Effects (SIDE) model. Our proposed model is validated through a large-scale survey in an online forum for English learning. Results reveal that indebtedness and community norm not only are key antecedents of intention to reciprocate but are also positively related to each other. The perceived anonymity of the online knowledge community not only has a positive effect on intention to reciprocate, but also has an interactive effect with community norm on intention to reciprocate. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

This study examines the influence of the tertius iungens orientation on knowledge-sharing activities and individual job performance within enterprise social media environments. The empirical analysis reveals that knowledge self-efficacy, social interaction ties, and the norm of reciprocity positively influence the tertius iungens orientation and knowledge-sharing activities in social media, while enjoyment of helping does not have a significant influence. In addition, the tertius iungens orientation has a significant impact on knowledge-sharing activities in social media, which in turn influences individual job performance. Based on the results of this analysis, this study discusses the research findings and proposes theoretical and practical implications of the study as well as the research's limitations. The influence of tertius iungens orientation within social media context.The impact of individual and social factors on tertius iungens orientation.The relationship between tertius iungens orientation & knowledge-sharing activities.The indirect effect of tertius iungens orientation on individual job performance.Theoretical and practical implications for enterprise knowledge management.

The computers are social actors (CASA) effect refers to the application of social rules when individuals interact with computers. Although the most plausible mechanism for CASA involves mindlessness, according to Langer, Blank, and Chanowitz's (1978) original theorization, mindlessness stems from a motivational deficit during a compliance gaining interaction. Mindlessness occurs when individuals view their behavior as relatively unimportant or inconsequential. However, researchers often employ a cognitive deficit approach and examine the CASA effect as a perceptual rather than behavioral outcome. Moreover, previous findings suggest that computer agents may activate the norm of reciprocity to induce human compliance (Fogg & Nass, 1997). To test the mechanism of mindlessness and address possible methodological artifacts from past work on Computer-Human reciprocity, an experiment employing a 3 (request type: direct, placebic, or sufficient)x3 (request size: large, medium, or small) design tested alternative hypotheses based on the cognitive and motivational explanations. The data are consistent the motivational hypothesis. In contrast to previous findings from Fogg and Nass, neither obligation, liking, nor mood correlated with compliance. The findings offer several directions for future work.

Professional virtual communities (PVCs), which are formed on the Internet, are expected to serve the needs of members for communication, information, and knowledge sharing. The executives of organizations should consider PVCs as a new innovation or knowledge pool since members share knowledge. However, many PVCs have failed due to members' low willingness to share knowledge with other members. Thus, there is a need to understand and foster the determinants of members' knowledge sharing behavior in PVCs. This study develops an integrated model designed to investigate and explain the relationships between contextual factors, personal perceptions of knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing behavior, and community loyalty. Empirical data was collected from three PVCs and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) to verify the fit of the hypothetical model. The results show that trust significantly influences knowledge sharing self-efficacy, perceived relative advantage and perceived compatibility, which in turn positively affect knowledge sharing behavior. Furthermore, the study finds that the norm of reciprocity does not significantly affect knowledge sharing behavior. The results of the study can be used to identify the motivation underlying individuals' knowledge sharing behavior in PVCs. By investigating the impacts of contextual factors and personal perceptions on knowledge sharing behavior, the integrated model better explains behavior than other proposed models. This study might help executives of virtual communities and organizations to manage and promote these determinants of knowledge sharing to stimulate members' willingness to share knowledge and enhance their virtual community loyalty. As only little empirical research has been conducted on the impact of knowledge sharing self-efficacy, perceived relative advantage, and perceived compatibility on the individual's knowledge sharing behavior in PVCs, the empirical evidence reported here makes a valuable contribution in this highly important area.