Interpersonal Relationship, Knowledge Characteristic, and Knowledge Sharing Behavior of Online Community Members: A TAM Perspective

Abstract

With the rapid development of information science and technology, online communities are attracting an increasing number of participants, who can share information, create original content, and offer emotional support, thus communicating and spreading knowledge frequently within the community. To develop a model of influencing factors for the knowledge sharing behavior of online community members, this study employs the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a moderator variable based on the social exchange theory. In this study, the influencing factors model for knowledge sharing behavior of online community members was tested using PLS-SEM. The results show that knowledge sharing is motivated by trust and quality of knowledge; the interaction term of perceived usefulness and knowledge quality of the user has a significant negative correlation with the knowledge sharing behavior of online community users; perceived usefulness significantly positively moderates the correlation between knowledge tacitness and knowledge sharing behavior of users; perceived ease of use significantly positively moderates the relationship between knowledge quality and knowledge sharing behavior; perceived ease of use significantly negatively moderates the relationship between knowledge tacit and knowledge sharing behavior. In order to maximize the activity and stickiness of the online community platform, the platform must focus on maintaining and enhancing the platform’s credibility and knowledge quality. On the other hand, the online community platform extols its professional utility and ease of operation, which are conducive to the generation of behavior that is conducive to knowledge sharing.