The Influence of Media Capabilities on Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities

Gen-Yih Liao (), Tzu-Ling Huang (), Alan R. Dennis () and Ching-I Teng ()
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Gen-Yih Liao: Department of Information Management, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan; Department of Nursing, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan Branch, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Tzu-Ling Huang: Department of Information Management, National Central University, Zhongli 320, Taiwan
Alan R. Dennis: Operations and Decision Technologies Department, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
Ching-I Teng: Graduate Institute of Management, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Main Branch, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan; Department of Business and Management, Ming Chi University of Technology, Taishan 243, Taiwan

Information Systems Research, 2024, vol. 35, issue 1, 165-183

Abstract: Online communities (OCs) have become common, both in work settings and in the personal lives of individuals. Communication among members of OCs is similar in many ways to communication among members of work and nonwork teams (e.g., both synchronous and asynchronous communication are possible). Historically, knowledge repositories have been the focus of OCs, but as OCs add more synchronous communication, it is important to understand how different communication capabilities influence user commitment, individual growth, and knowledge contribution. We developed a theoretical model that argues that the five media capabilities of media synchronicity theory influence the two information technology (IT)-enabled public goods of communality (in the form of knowledge repositories) and connectivity (in the form of direct user-to-user interactions) and that these two in turn affect task outcomes such as community commitment, individual growth, and knowledge contribution. We tested this model using three waves of data collection (two surveys and one set of archival behavioral data) from the same 452 members of a popular OC. Our results show that four of the five media capabilities have strong influences on connectivity and communality and through them on task outcomes. Connectivity (direct user-to-user interaction) has a stronger influence on knowledge contribution than communality (knowledge repositories). Our model explains large effect sizes for connectivity and communality and medium to large sizes for task outcomes, suggesting its value to OC theory and practice.

Keywords: online community; communication; connectivity; communality; knowledge contribution; commitment; individual development; IT-enabled public goods theory; media synchronicity theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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