Knowledge Sharing Behavior In Virtual Communities: The Relationship Between Trust, Self-Efficacy, And Outcome Expectations

Title:

(1 point)

Knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities: The relationship between trust, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations

It is evident from the title of this paper that the study is focused on knowledge sharing behavior in the contemporary times virtual communities.

Author(s):

(1 point)

Meng-Hsiang Hsu, Teresa L. Ju, Chia-Hui Yen, Chun-Ming Chang are the respective authors of this paper. All the authors are associated with respected universities of Taiwan and seen to have decent knowledge regarding the subject.

Source:

(1 point)

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Vol. 65 Issue: 2, February 2007, pp. 153-169,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.09.003

Purpose:

(6 points)

To identify the factors that enhance or hampers an individual’s knowledge sharing behavior in a virtual community setting. The author aims to explore the dynamics of knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities and proposes a model. The model proposed is then further evaluated with the help of theoretical tests. The main purpose of this paper is to find out the individual’s behavior towards knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities. As stated by Hsu et al., (2007), the proposed model of social cognitive theory will help to understand the intricacies of knowledge sharing behavior among individuals that are involved in the professional virtual communities.

Audience:

(6 points)

All the business organizations and the authorities of them for instance, managers, director of the organization and so on can find this paper beneficial for them. Since the business organizations along with other professional institutions are getting more and more digital, the aspect of knowledge sharing behavior on virtual platform is significant. Therefore, in order to make better understand this category, the various authorities of business organizations may find this paper useful for them.

Subject:

(6 points)

The structure of this article efficiently discusses all the aspects knowledge sharing behavior in professional virtual communities. The main subject of this article highlights is to understand the distinctive knowledge sharing behavior that is observed in virtual communities. In order to understand this concept, the author proposes a social cognitive theory where the individuals personal factors along with environmental influence tend to affect an individual’s behavior henceforth affecting their knowledge sharing behavior as well. The paper further focuses on the relationship between an individual’s trust, self-efficacy and outcome expectations and the level they impact upon the knowledge sharing behavior of individuals that are interacting in the virtual community settings.

Sources:

(6 points)

Web based survey on Yahoo

 A survey based study was conducted for this research where web based survey questionnaire was posted on Yahoo. Since the target subjects for this particular research were individuals of virtual communities therefore, a web based survey was the most suited source where all the participants were sent invitation to perform the questionnaire based survey. Distinctive communities were chosen for this research study since the author aimed to find out the factors of knowledge sharing behavior in distinctive virtual communities. The sample were mostly collected from Taiwan and a few others were collected from China and Hong Kong. A total number of 274 respondents were analyzed and evaluated for finding out the efficiency of proposed social cognitive model in knowledge sharing behavior among individuals of virtual communities.

Thesis:

(6 points)

A set of questions were highlighted by the author for the purpose of understanding the knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities and these are –

1. Does user’s knowledge sharing self-efficacy have a positive impact on knowledge sharing behavior?

2. Does outcome expectations of individuals have a positive influence on knowledge sharing behavior?

3. Does user’s knowledge sharing self-efficacy have a positive influence on their personal and community related outcome expectations?

4. Do the members of virtual communities’ impact positively on identification based trust and information based trust?

5. Does the opinion of members of virtual communities regarding identification based trust have a positive influence on knowledge sharing self-efficacy?

6. Does the perception of members regarding identification based trust have a positive influence on knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities?

It is significant to get opinion based information from the users and members of professional virtual communities in order to understand and identify the factors that influence knowledge sharing behavior of individuals in virtual communities.

Evidence:

(6 points)

The social cognitive theory based model have been used for understanding the individuals personal factors that influence the knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities. In addition to this, a relationship has been established between the trust, self-efficacy and outcome expectations of an individual that have a positive influence upon the knowledge sharing behavior in a virtual setting.

Limits:

(6 points)

The research article have clearly mentioned some of the limitations that it faced during the survey procedure of research methodology. One of the significant limitation that the research suffered was that the survey was based on generalized member of the communities rather than focusing on the specific professional based virtual community.

Point of View:

(6 points)

The author puts a significant emphasis on knowledge sharing over virtual communities and the level at which they can influence different communities. The author believes that there are certain factors that influence this knowledge sharing behavior of individuals.

Concepts/Words:

(6 points)

Knowledge sharing behavior: The ways and procedures with which knowledge and experience of distinctive individuals can be shared and can accelerate their rate of growth in competitive environment. Researchers have shown interest in finding out factors that influence individuals knowledge sharing behavior.

Virtual communities: Virtual communities can be described as social setting where distinctive individuals interact with the help of internet and cyberspace.

Use of Evidence:

(6 points)

For this paper the authors have utilized all the necessary evidences from prior researches. In addition to this, the evidence obtained from the current study is also utilized efficiently for finding out suitable outcome.

Conclusion:

(6 points)

The authors have concluded this paper with the findings of the research they conducted by using the social cognitive theory based model. The author further states that self-efficacy, trust and outcome expectations influence the knowledge sharing behavior of individuals over the virtual communities.

Implications:

(6 points)

Research implications – This research evidently shows that the social cognitive theory based model is the validated research module with the help of which knowledge sharing behavior of individuals can be determined.

Practical implications – The paper can be beneficial for understanding the various factors of members of virtual communities that influence their knowledge sharing behavior.

Personal Reaction:

(5 points)

The study of the paper focuses on a proposed model of social cognitive theory that consists of knowledge sharing self-efficiency and the result expectation for personal influences as well as multiple dimensional trusts for environmental impact. The proposed model have been evaluated in the study on the basis of structural modeling equation and confirmatory factor evaluation that has been applied to examine the empirical data to ensure the model.

 The article by discussing the model recognizes the most authentic technique that can be used to identify the nature of trust (Hsu et al., 2007).  The model is classified in to three different constructs such as economy based, information based and identification based trust for investigating the impact on individual sharing of knowledge. The SCT model is a broadly accepted model for evaluating individual behavior of knowledge sharing. In the SCT model, personal aspects, environmental impact and behavioral aspects play as an interacting factor that influences each other. Therefore, from my personal opinion I can say that the effort taken by the author to evaluate the proposed model was worthwhile in the study.

Strength of Case:

(5 points)

The multidisciplinary study conducted here is very important as it implemented a new model to identify the behavior. The author here presents a model of knowledge sharing motivation based on the combination of theories like theory of planned behavior and self-determination theory (Gagné, 2009). Through this study the Author Hsu et al. introduce the idea of identification based trust from a multidisciplinary perspective for evaluating the process of knowledge sharing. This increases the strength of the case in the study. Furthermore, the web based surveys and paper based survey from different members also helped in enhancing the strength of the study in the case.

Evaluation:

(5 points)

In order to analyses the article, it is necessary to investigate the structure of the study. The article valid and authentic as it is a peer reviewed journal. Besides its publication, the article also presents the challenges faced by organization while implementing the aspects of self-efficacy and knowledge sharing. It has been found from the study that self-efficacy is type of self-analysis that impacts upon the decision of the undertaking behavior (Hashim & Tan, 2015). The study introduces the concept of KSSE as a method of behavioral control factor to deal with situations when people encounters difficulty of exchanging knowledge amongst individuals. All the data and content in the paper indicates that it is authentic and reliable. Apart from these, the surveys from the web based and paper based platforms are easily understandable with easily evaluated facts.

Quality:

(5 points)

The issues in this paper has been properly organized. This is due to the fact, that the author has selected the most common issues faced by the researchers, students and academic scholars. Therefore, the solution provided by the authors is very impressive and it has maintained the quality of the model used. However, it is necessary to mention that the article is well organized and have discussed all the dimensions with proper justification. The purpose of the article is well express with a high quality.

Other:

(5 points)

The study provided effective insights into the elements of knowledge sharing with the use of SCT model that has been widely for examining human behavior in multiple contexts. It is important to highlight the fact knowledge sharing behavior in VC’s is the first study that implemented SCT based model to examine the determinants of knowledge sharing behavior.

· Self-efficacy has both direct and indirect impact on knowledge sharing behavior that can be used to guide individual behavior.

· From the perspectives point of view self-efficacy can also be helpful in online training sessions and support mechanisms activities (Jinyang, 2015).

· Personal outcome have impact on the knowledge sharing behavior that could helpful in enhancing relationship with others.

·  This process may be important for the managers of the professional VC’s to provide reward for increasing individual personal expectation.

By developing information based trust amongst individuals, members within organization can limit the risk and unpredictable challenges (Chumg et al., 2015).