Understanding Knowledge Sourcing Behavior in Virtual Communities

가상 커뮤니티에서의 지식소싱행동에 대한 이해

By providing a number of unprecedented knowledge sources, virtual communities have stimulated interests in knowledge sourcing Specifically, virtual communities have triggered fundamental changes in the ways that people interact with one another. Thus, there is a critical need to examine how people try to behave for sourcing knowledge in virtual communities, particularly in terms of the demand-side perspective of knowledge. To address the knowledge gap regarding knowledge sourcing behavior from the knowledge recipients' side, this study draws upon GPA(goal-plan-action) theory with both the social cognitive theory and the goal-setting theory as overarching theories. Furthermore, we apply past experience in virtual communities and trust in knowledge providers as moderating variables to deeply understand the knowledge recipients' behavior. We expect to present theoretical and practical implications through our findings, which are relevant to cognitive goal-setting and knowledge sourcing behavior. In the theoretical perspective, this study illustrates how knowledge recipients determine knowledge sourcing behavior. Based on our findings, this study has practical implications for virtual communities to effectively balance knowledge repositories and knowledge management systems with knowledge providers and recipients.