Exploring the factors influencing users' learning and sharing behavior on social media platforms

Abstract

PurposeThe research goal is to understand what factors affect users' knowledge and information learning and sharing on social media platforms. This study focuses on the impact of platform characteristics on users' behavior. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to investigate (1) what factors affect users' learning and dissemination of knowledge and information on social media platforms, (2) whether knowledge and information learning behavior will have a positive effect on sharing behavior and (3) try to establish an impact model of users' learning and sharing behavior about knowledge and information.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposes an impact mechanism model to test these hypotheses. To achieve this, the authors collected data from 430 users who have used the social media platforms to acquire and share knowledge and information to test the hypothesis. The tools SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 23.0 were used to analyze the reliability, validity, model fits and structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results show that the learning of knowledge and information can influence the sharing behavior on social media platforms. Users' platform-based trust and platform-based satisfaction affect their knowledge and information learning and sharing on the platform. Factors affecting users' trust in social platforms include privacy protection effectiveness and network effects. And, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are related to users' satisfaction with social media platforms.Originality/valueThis study constructs an impact model on the learning and sharing of knowledge and information. The model takes the information system continuance model as the theoretical framework and integrates other factors, including the network effect, the effectiveness of privacy protection and trust. Most of the hypotheses of this research were confirmed. The conclusions provide practical guidance for the dissemination of knowledge information and platform management.