Journal of Internet Computing and Services (인터넷정보학회논문지)

Korean Society for Internet Information (한국인터넷정보학회)
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The Effect of Online Community, Members, and Personal Characteristics on Lurking Behavior: Why do people only consume rather than create contents?

온라인 커뮤니티 특성, 커뮤니티 멤버 특성, 개인 특성이 잠복관찰 활동에 미치는 영향:왜 사람들은 쓰지 않고 읽기만 하는가?

  • Park, Do-Hyung (School of Management Information System, College of Business Administration, Kookmin University)
  • Received : 2013.10.07
  • Accepted : 2013.12.23
  • Published : 2014.02.28
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Abstract

Online communities are getting more popular with the development of information technology. It is essential that community members participate actively and share their contents or opinions continuously for the success and growth of online communities. However, it is revealed that most of members just take the role of passive observer. They are lurking community information and contents without any contribution. In this sense, this study focuses on explore lurking behavior of online community members. This study investigates the effect of the characteristics of online community, community members, and personal traits on user's lurking intention. Member familiarity and community identity have a strong positive effect on de-lurking intention, while the perception of usefulness and ease of use for communities and member expertise have a negative effect on de-lurking intention. Interestingly, users with a low level of self-esteem have higher level of motivation of participation than those with a high level of self-esteem. Finally, this study proposes several strategies to enhance information and contents sharing in online communities.

정보기술의 발전과 소셜 네트워크의 확산으로 온라인 커뮤니티의 중요성은 점점 커지고 있다. 온라인 커뮤니티가 성공하기 위해서는 커뮤니티 구성원들이 정보를 공유하고 컨텐츠를 지속적으로 창출하여야 한다. 하지만, 온라인 커뮤니티에 참여하는 대부분의 사람들이 글이나 컨텐츠를 공유하려는 적극적인 참여보다는 단순히 타인의 글이나 컨텐츠를 감상하는 수동적인 참여를 하고 있다. 즉, 사용자가 글/컨텐츠를 감상하는 의도와 글/컨텐츠를 창출하는 의도사이에는 큰 격차가 존재함을 알 수 있다. 본 연구는 왜 온라인 커뮤니티에서 사람들은 글이나 컨텐츠 공유를 통한 참여 활동보단, 타인의 글이나 컨텐츠를 보기만 하는 잠복관찰 활동을 많이 하는지에 대한 물음에 답하고자 한다. 이를 위해, 온라인 커뮤니티 자체의 특성과 커뮤니티 멤버와의 관계적 특성, 개인의 특성에 초점을 맞추어, 사용자의 잠복관찰 활동에 영향을 줄 수 있는 다양한 요인들을 도출하고 실증 분석하였다. 구체적으로, 멤버와의 관계적 특성 변수 중 멤버들간의 친밀감, 커뮤니티와의 동일시 등은 커뮤니티에 대한 소속감을 증가시키고 잠복관찰 의도를 감소시키는 데 중요한 역할을 함이 밝혀졌다. 반면, 커뮤니티의 유용성과 사용용이성, 멤버들의 전문성의 경우, 오히려 잠복관찰 의도를 증가 시키는 영향을 주는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 흥미롭게도, 자기존중감이 낮을수록 잠복관찰보다는 온라인 상의 활발한 참여를 하는 것을 발견하였다. 본 연구의 결과를 토대로 잠복관찰자를 활발한 참여자로 변모시키기 위한 커뮤니티 전략을 제시할 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.

Keywords

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