How do Enterprises promote innovation performance? A study on the relationship between online communities and innovation performance-exploring the mediating effect of tacit knowledge

The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between online communities operated by different enterprises, tacit knowledge and innovation performance. An attempt was also made to understand whether tacit knowledge plays a mediating role on the relationship between online communities and innovation performance. This study applied questionnaire survey, and 163 enterprises in Taiwan served as the sample. Analyses were conducted by confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling. It was found that online communities of the enterprises had significant positive effect on the acquisition of tacit knowledge. Also, tacit knowledge had a significant positive effect on the innovation performance of enterprises. Tacit knowledge had a mediating effect on the relationship between online communities and innovation performance. This study not only proved that communication between online community members promote the acquisition of tacit knowledge, but also tested the mediating effect of tacit knowledge. Therefore, enterprises could be aware of the importance of tacit knowledge (share and apply from operating online communities) to innovation performance. Moreover, enterprises that attach importance to the interaction between online community members and the sharing of tacit knowledge were implicated in this study.
Author(s): Chi-Cheng Lee [sup.1] , Lian-Chun Lee [sup.2] , Rui-Hsin Kao [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411282.c, 0000 0004 1797 2113, Department of Business Administration, Cheng Shiu University, , Kaohsiung, Taiwan [...]