The factors influencing members' continuance intentions in professional virtual communities — a longitudinal study

Abstract

The advance of internet technology has stimulated the rise of professional virtual communities (PVCs). The objective of PVCs is to encourage people to exploit or explore knowledge through websites. However, many virtual communities have failed due to the reluctance of members to continue their participation in these PVCs. Motivated by such concerns, this study formulates and tests a theoretical model to explain the factors influencing individuals' intention to continue participating in PVCs' knowledge activities. Drawing from the information system and knowledge management literatures, two academic perspectives related to PVC continuance are incorporated in the integrated model. This model posits that an individual's intention to stay in a professional virtual community is influenced by a contextual factor and technological factors. Specifically, the antecedents of PVC members' intention to continue sharing knowledge include social interaction ties capital and satisfaction at post-usage stage. These variables, in turn, are adjusted based on the confirmation of pre-usage expectations. A longitudinal study is conducted with 360 members of a professional virtual community. Results indicate that the contextual factor and technological factors both exert significant impacts on PVC participants' continuance intentions.