The influence mechanism of rewards on knowledge sharing behaviors in virtual communities

Knowledge transfer between physicians from different geographical regions in China's online health communities

Online Health Communities (OHCs) are a type of self-organizing platform that provide users with access to social support, information, and knowledge transfer opportunities. The medical expertise of registered physicians in OHCs plays a crucial role in maintaining the quality of online medical services. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of OHCs in transferring knowledge between physicians and most do not distinguish between the explicit and tacit knowledge transferred between physicians. This study aims to demonstrate the cross-regional transfer characteristics of medical knowledge, especially tacit and explicit knowledge. Based on data collected from 4716 registered physicians on Lilac Garden (DXY.cn), a leading Chinese OHC, Exponential Random Graph Models are used to (1) examine the overall network and two subnets of tacit and explicit knowledge (i.e., clinical skills and medical information), and (2) identify patterns in the knowledge transferred between physicians, based on regional variations. Analysis of the network shows that physicians located in economically developed regions or regions with sufficient workforces are more likely to transfer medical knowledge to those from poorer regions. Analysis of the subnets demonstrate that only Gross Domestic Product (GDP) flows are supported in the clinical skill network since discussions around tacit knowledge are a direct manifestation of physicians' professional abilities. These findings extend current understanding about social value creation in OHCs by examining the medical knowledge flows generated by physicians between regions with different health resources. Moreover, this study demonstrates the cross-regional transfer characteristics of explicit and tacit knowledge to complement the literature on the effectiveness of OHCs to transfer different types of knowledge.

Effects of Professional Virtual Community Attributes and Flow Experience on Information Sharing Among Chinese Young Netizens: A Fuzzy-Set QCA

Purpose

As an important channel to search and share information, professional virtual community (PVC) has become one of the main channels for Chinese young netizens to search information and socialize. However, despite many researches on PVC have been conducted in various fields, there is still a lack of researches on young netizens in China, who are in the stage of online social networking booming with countless PVCs but many of them are non-effective. Moreover, there are few studies to explore explicit paths to obtain the effective information sharing or sustainable development of PVC. Therefore, based on this research gap and social cognitive theory, this study explored PVC information sharing among Chinese young netizens combining the external factors and the individual factors, and attempted to obtain the paths to the effective PVC information sharing.

Methods

An online survey was conducted through snowball sampling in China, and 407 samples from 15 different PVCs were confirmed. By using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with software fs/QCA 3.0, this study attempted to explore the casual configurations that achieve high and non-high effectiveness of PVC information sharing among Chinese young netizens.

Results

Three types of equivalent configurations that can achieve high effectiveness of PVC information sharing are obtained; Four types of equivalent configurations that can achieve non-high effectiveness of PVC information sharing are obtained. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the expertise of PVC and challenge-skill balance of members are the primary factors in PVC information sharing.

Conclusion

The findings of this study provide that the paths to high and non-high effectiveness of PVC information sharing, which is beneficial to the management and development of PVC. Furthermore, it is helpful for netizens to find and enjoy the PVCs with high quality when they need them. The management of public opinion and how to design web pages to improve the user experience can also be carried out from this perspective.

Improvisation and university students’ entrepreneurial intention in China: The roles of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial policy support

In the VUCA era, determining how to deal with environmental uncertainty has become one of the core issues. Research shows that improvisation is an effective way to deal with rapid changes and to obtain unexpected opportunities in a complex and changeable environment. Improvisation, as a needed capability in the entrepreneurial process, can also provide key strategies to effectively deal with emergencies. Although previous studies have explored the outcomes of improvisation in the entrepreneurial field, this paper aims to investigate in depth whether and how improvisation affects entrepreneurial intention in China. A moderated mediation model was constructed and tested using data from 251 Chinese university students to explore the influence mechanism of improvisation on entrepreneurial intention by combining social cognitive theory and the entrepreneurial event model. The results of this empirical analysis found that improvisation has a positive effect on entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy plays a fully mediating role in the relationship between improvisation and entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, entrepreneurial policy support has been found to significantly moderate the mediated relationship between improvisation and entrepreneurial intention by entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The findings suggest that individuals should cultivate improvisation capabilities and entrepreneurial self-efficacy to enhance their entrepreneurial intention. They also need to pay attention to the dynamics of entrepreneurial policies in China. This study contributes to the extant literature by providing deeper insight into the relationship between improvisation and entrepreneurial intention and also has important practical implications for promoting entrepreneurial intention formation in contexts with environmental uncertainty like China.

Consumer Online Knowledge-Sharing: Motivations and Outcome

As a new form of online reviews, Q&A reviews have been recently used by many e-commerce platforms to compensate for the weaknesses and problems related to trust and helpfulness found in traditional online reviews. This research documents what motivates people to share products or purchasing knowledge with others through Q&A reviews and why e-commerce platforms should place an emphasis on Q&A reviews. Importantly, our results provide evidence that, when receiving feedback (i.e., comments and likes), people are more likely willing to share knowledge with others and will have a higher level of loyalty. We believe that this study contributes to knowledge sharing and the e-commerce literature, and also has practical implications.

The Influence of Multi-Variation In-Trust Web Feature Behavior Performance on the Information Dissemination Mechanism in Virtual Community

With the flourishing development of the virtual community (VC), trust not only provides a guarantee and foundation for the VC operation, but is critical in activating individual trust-related behavior in a virtual setting. However, based on a review of prior literature on trust and the VC, those studies failed to pay enough attention to trust’s multidimensional nature. Specifically, the relation among multidimensional components (conditions) in the research trust model is usually less discussed. This research focuses on a set of multidimensional conditions (components) that could activate trust in the context of the VC. The research framework also focuses on the factors of the virtual community scene and individual online behavior (based on intrinsic trustworthiness properties). Based on the classic trust framework, the operation and maintaining mechanism of the VC is analyzed, as well as the relationship between the trustworthy qualities of online users and their online behavior, which helps survey scale design, and then the multidimensions of trust’s construct of the VC is successfully isolated. The concept of Multi-Variation In-Trust Web Feature Behavior Performance as the set of multidimensional conditions supporting trust is proposed in the paper, and the relation among four dimensional components (conditions) is verified. Finally, the connection and operation mechanism between the four dimensional conditions (components) of trust and information dissemination in the VC are explored.

Managing digital knowledge for ensuring business efficiency and continuity

Purpose

Today many firms are pushed towards digitalization to ensure business continuity and their survival due to COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the emerging knowledge management models in the era of digitalization and disruption.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have adopted a semi-structured approach composed of qualitative data collection from 37 business executives from India representing different industry sectors. The authors adopted a three-layer coding process (axial, open and selective) to develop a framework grounded in organizational information processing theory.

Findings

Scanning the business environment leads to understand the status of current and potential business through intelligence of information, whereas better planning and execution can be achieved through employing and using the information intelligently that fits to the overall and strategic objective of the business. Overall, the business continuity can be obtained by information prosperity across the business by engaging diverse stakeholders. According to the findings, these aspects lead to the effective implementation of digital knowledge to ensure business continuity in uncertain business environment.

Practical implications

The study offers the insights for managing and executing the knowledge in digital platforms, where they can think of developing a system architecture on the basis of degree of uncertainty and information processing requirements for combining the knowledge.

Originality/value

The present study is unique, where it offers the meaningful visions to the designers and users of virtual knowledge management systems.