Knowledge Contribution in the Online Virtual

Community: Capability and Motivation

Chih-Chien Wang and Cheng-Yu Lai

Grad. Inst. of Information Management, National Taipei University, P.O. Box 179 - 45,
Taipei City, 11699, Taiwan
wangson@mail.ntpu.edu.tw, s79385002@tpnet.ntpu.edu.tw

Abstract. With the popularization of the Internet, virtual communities offer a

new way for knowledge exchange. Previous research focused on the individu-
als’ motivation to knowledge contribution. However, the exchange of knowl-
edge is facilitated not only when individuals are motivated but also when
individuals have the ability to engage in it. This study examines the influence of
capability to the knowledge contribution in the virtual community as compared
to individual motivation. An online questionnaire survey and partial least
squares (PLS) were used to analyze and verify the proposed hypotheses. The
results indicated that perceived self-efficacy and professional experience posi-
tively influence knowledge contribution in the online virtual community. How-
ever, individual motivations, which often are regarded as important influential
factors in the real world, did not significantly influence knowledge contribution
in the online virtual community.

1 Introduction
Due to a growing understanding of the importance of knowledge, people participate in
knowledge exchange through various ways. Traditionally, knowledge exchange took
place during physical interaction. People shared knowledge with colleagues in ex-
change with others’ contribution of knowledge. These knowledge exchange partici-
pants had prior and subsequent relationships and might know each other physically. In
this situation, factors about personal relationship may influence individual motiva-
tions toward knowledge contribution. In recent years, online virtual communities,
such as the online groups, listserv service, and bulletin board systems, have served as
a new way for people who have the same interests or expertise to share experience or
knowledge with each other. Since that virtual community is anonymous and based in
cyberspace, most virtual community participants have no physical personal relation-
ship with each other and do not physically know each other. Some virtual community
participants may play the role of free-riders and choose to get knowledge from these
virtual communities but do not, in turn, contribute any of their knowledge. Hence, it is
an interesting instance of individuals’ willingness to share their knowledge in the
virtual community, even if they recognize the existence of free-riders.
Individuals’ motivation is a common reason influencing the individuals’ willing-
ness to contribute their knowledge. In the last few years, much research was con-
cerned with the influence of individual motivation towards knowledge contribution.

J. Lang, F. Lin, and J. Wang (Eds.): KSEM 2006, LNAI 4092, pp. 442 – 453, 2006.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006
Knowledge Contribution in the Online Virtual Community: Capability and Motivation 443

Burgess [1] used both qualitative and quantitative methods to measure what motivates
individuals to transfer their knowledge. Bock et al. [2] proposed a framework with
motivators and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to assess behavior intention in
knowledge-sharing. Both of them suppose that knowledge-sharing probably is occur-
ring when individuals have adequate motivation. A number of studies had also found
motivation to be very important for knowledge contribution [3-5].
However, the exchange of knowledge is not only facilitated when individuals are mo-
tivated but also when individuals have the capability to engage in it. Even if individuals
are motivated to participate in knowledge exchange, having knowledge is still a basic
requirement when they hope to contribute knowledge [6]. Constant et al. [3] argued that
expertise is as important as motivation when individuals contribute their knowledge. The
study of Kankanhalli et al. [7] also showed that both motivation and self-efficacy will
influence individuals’ willingness to share their knowledge in the organization.
Within the extensive literature on knowledge management, most of the research
focused on knowledge exchange within the organization or cross-organization. Only a
few studies had paid attention to the knowledge exchange in the virtual community.
Most of these studies of virtual community knowledge exchange mainly focused on
the knowledge contribution motivations of the individuals. The influence of individ-
ual capability on the knowledge contribution in the virtual community seldom has
been discussed.
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of capability on the knowl-
edge contribution as compared to individual motivations in the virtual community. In
view of the prior research purposes, the following questions were proposed: Is capa-
bility a prerequisite condition for members in the virtual community to contribute
their knowledge? Are individuals definitely contributing their knowledge when they
have the motivation that is mentioned in the real-world knowledge contribution?
The remaining parts of this paper are structured as follows: The second section
deals with the theoretical foundations for proposing the hypotheses and the research
model. Then, the research design and methodology are presented. The results of the
statistical analysis are detailed in the following section four and five. Finally, conclu-
sions and the need for future research are discussed in the last section.

2 Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

In a virtual community, knowledge contribution occurs when individuals are moti-
vated to review the posted questions and take their time and effort to reply a response
[6]. Over the past few years, many researchers used motivation as an indicator to
measure the knowledge-sharing by the individual in an organization [2,3,7]. Daven-
port and Prusak [8] proposed that individuals participate in knowledge exchange
when they expect to acquire some rewards that can be summarized as reputation,
reciprocity or altruism.
Gary [9] indicated that an individual may lose the ownership of the knowledge that
they have and the benefits based on this knowledge when contribute knowledge in the
organization. As a result, sufficient incentive is necessary for individuals to engage in
sharing knowledge [8]. An aspect of social exchange theory also suggests that the
expectation of getting advantage, such as the promotion of status or the increase of