Abstract

Web 2.0, characterized as openness, sharing, and participation, has enabled Internet users to easily generate a variety of contents, and to share them through Web 2.0 services. Knowledge search service (KSS) is positioning itself as one of typical Web 2.0 services. Yet, few studies have sharpened our understanding of users' knowledge sharing behavior in the KSS environment. In order to address this knowledge void, this paper attempts to explore antecedents of their usage behavior in the KSS environment. Typically, they utilize stored knowledge and share their knowledge simultaneously. Considering this characteristic, our study regards service usage intention and knowledge sharing intention as final dependent variables. This study advances a research model based on Bhattacherjee's expectation-confirmation model, which is expanded by incorporating trust belief. Because of the openness of KSS, trust belief is believed to play a critical role in forming users' service usage intention and knowledge sharing intention. Furthermore, this study examines the difference of the antecedents' effects in terms of users' gender. We collected data from 275 respondents who have experience in using KSS. PLS (partial least squares) was employed for the analysis of the data. Analysis results confirm the important role of user satisfaction and trust belief in the formation of users' service usage intention and knowledge sharing intention. More importantly, trust belief has a more salient effect on knowledge service usage intention than user satisfaction. This study also shows the moderating role of users' gender. Finally, this paper provides managerial guidance on strategic planning aimed at improving users' service usage intention and knowledge sharing intention in the KSS environment.

Keywords

• Knowledge Search Service;
• Continued Online Service Use;
• Trust;
• Knowledge Sharing

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Acknowledgement

Supported by : 명지대학교