Understanding Knowledge-Sharing Motivation, Incentive Mechanisms, and Satisfaction in Virtual Communities

Abstract

Virtual communities have gained popularity as a means for individuals to learn and share knowledge. However, knowledge-sharing motivation, incentive mechanisms, and satisfaction in these communities have not been examined in detail. Using survey data from 169 community members, we investigated the conditions under which motivation, incentive mechanisms, and satisfaction affect knowledge-sharing behavior. We found that the incentive mechanism is a significant predictor of a virtual community member's motivation to obtain knowledge, and that the incentive mechanism and motivation do not positively affect a member's satisfaction that causes him/her to engage willingly in knowledge sharing with others in virtual communities.