Consumer software piracy in virtual communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-ping Yu ◽  
Mei-Lien Young ◽  
Bao-Chang Ju

Purpose – In consumer marketing literature, the ethical/moral components of consumer behavior have been recognized as important factors in individuals’ involvement in software piracy. However, there remains unanswered the question of which specific components are being referred to and how they explain consumer software piracy in the virtual knowledge-sharing community. This question is particularly unaddressed for those consumers who take the risks associated with piracy believing their acts to be taking from the haves (software producers) and giving to the have-nots. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – In this research, the authors propose a synergistic model that adopts the perspective of heroism and social exchange, and test it with the data collected from a virtual community. To test the proposed research model, the authors investigated 489 subjects and examined the hypotheses by applying the partial least squares method. Findings – The findings show that the heroism construct has significant influence on sharing behavior in relation to cost factors, but not to benefit factors. Heroism stands out as the major construct in explaining sharing behavior. Thus, the research shows that the consumer software piracy present in the virtual knowledge-sharing community is a social behavior of exchange. Originality/value – Methodologically, the study proposes a new model for researchers and practitioners to understand consumer software piracy in the virtual community. Managerially, software producers should take it into consideration when formulating their product-pricing strategy, to ensure that software producers and the young can both win in the “buy or steal” war.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Wang ◽  
Jielin Yin ◽  
Zhenzhong Ma ◽  
Maolin Liao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of organizational rewards on two forms of knowledge sharing – explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities, and further to explore the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on the effect of virtual community rewards on implicit knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach Based on relevant knowledge sharing theories, this study develops an integrated framework to explore virtual community rewards and tacit and explicit knowledge sharing in a virtual context. This study then collected data from 429 virtual community users in four virtual communities via an online survey. Hierarchical regression analyzes were used to test the proposed research model. Findings The results of this study show that virtual rewards have a significantly positive linear relationship with explicit knowledge sharing but have an inverse U-shape relationship with tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities. In addition, intrinsic motivations including enjoyment and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between rewards and tacit knowledge sharing. Practical implications This study suggests more virtual community rewards may not always lead to more tacit knowledge sharing. Instead, too many rewards may weaken the motivation for tacit knowledge sharing. Knowledge management practitioners should make full use of the positive impact of self-efficacy and enjoyment to set up appropriate reward incentives to encourage knowledge-sharing, in particular, tacit knowledge sharing and to better manage virtual communities. Originality/value This study explores knowledge-sharing behavior in virtual communities, an important step toward more integrated knowledge-sharing theories. While online communities have become increasingly important for today’s knowledge economy, few studies have explored knowledge and knowledge sharing in a virtual context and this study helps to bridge the gap. In addition, this study develops an integrated framework to explore the mechanism through which virtual community rewards affect knowledge sharing with intrinsic motivation mediating this relationship in online communities, which further enriches the understanding on how to use virtual rewards to motivate knowledge sharing behaviors in the virtual context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiu-Ping Hsu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model of how both the benefits and risks of social capital influence online knowledge sharing among virtual community members towards enhancing members’ relationship continuity and virtual community reputations. In addition, this study addresses the effects of complementary resources on knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – The structural equation modelling approach was applied to estimate the conceptual model by using survey data from virtual community members. A total of 626 valid questionnaires were collected. Findings – The empirical results showed that most of the research hypotheses were supported. The benefits of social capital and complementary resources have a positive effect on knowledge sharing, thereby strengthening relationship continuity and community reputation. Furthermore, the risk of social capital has a negative effect on knowledge sharing, as expected. Originality/value – A review of the literature reveals a lack of studies focusing on both the positive and negative influences of social capital on online knowledge sharing. This study therefore contributes to a comprehensive perspective for understanding online knowledge sharing in virtual communities.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Shen Chen ◽  
Shih-Feng Chang ◽  
Chih-Hsing Liu

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.


Author(s):  
Shafiz A. Mohd Yusof

This chapter attempts to explore the possibility of building social capital in virtual community(VC) by first introducing the phenomenon, its problems and context, types of VCs and the significance of knowledge sharing. This chapter then presents the process of social capital from a sociological standpoint where two main theories will be used—the elementary theory of social structure and the social exchange theory as the backbone of the arguments. By integrating both theories, a conceptual framework that includes six antecedents to develop social capital is provided. Subsequently, the propositions are expressed in terms of implications to the sociological approach of VC and some conclusions are made by including some future research agenda.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoyun Liang ◽  
Chi-Cheng Chang ◽  
William Rothwell ◽  
Kuen-Ming Shu

The present study examined the influences and interactive effects of organizational culture, including trust, communication, and leadership, on online knowledge sharing based on social exchange theory and theories of trust, communication, and leadership. Two-hundred-ninety-seven members in three online engineering virtual communities from a knowledge management platform in a company were participants for filling in questionnaires. The results revealed that trust, communication, and leadership significantly affected online knowledge sharing. Members with high levels of trust, communication, or leadership had significantly better knowledge sharing than members with medium or low levels of trust, communication, or leadership. The results also showed a significant interactive effect of trust and communication on online knowledge sharing and a significant interactive effect of leadership and communication on online knowledge sharing, but there was no significant interactive effect of trust and leadership on online knowledge sharing. No previous studies have investigated the interactive effects of trust, communication and leadership on online knowledge sharing. That research finding is a significant contribution different from previous studies. Finally, this article offers suggestions for future research, implications of this study, and limitations of this study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Meng Wang ◽  
Jian-Jun Wang ◽  
Wan-Ning Zhang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying mechanisms through which interactivity and fairness perception impart influence on solvers’ continuance intention in crowdsourcing contest settings. Design/methodology/approach On basis of self-determination theory and social exchange theory, this study focuses on the mediating roles of motivation and platform trust to explain the underlying influence processes of interactivity and fairness perception on continuance intention. A sample of 306 solvers was obtained from an online crowdsourcing platform through two separated surveys. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares method and bias-corrected bootstrapping method. Findings The empirical results indicate that motivation and platform trust together fully mediate the effect of interactivity on continuance intention, and the effect of fairness perception on continuance intention is also fully mediated by motivation and platform trust. While motivation is found to have a stronger mediating effect than platform trust does. Originality/value This study contributes to the crowdsourcing research by figuring out the pathway through which interactivity and fairness perception influence solvers’ continuance intention.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2412-2432
Author(s):  
Shafiz A. Mohd Yusof

This chapter attempts to explore the possibility of building social capital in virtual community(VC) by first introducing the phenomenon, its problems and context, types of VCs and the significance of knowledge sharing. This chapter then presents the process of social capital from a sociological standpoint where two main theories will be used—the elementary theory of social structure and the social exchange theory as the backbone of the arguments. By integrating both theories, a conceptual framework that includes six antecedents to develop social capital is provided. Subsequently, the propositions are expressed in terms of implications to the sociological approach of VC and some conclusions are made by including some future research agenda.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsus Suti ◽  
Harmita Sari

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how social capital (e.g. structural, cognitive and relational) influences trust (e.g. cognitive-/affective-based trust), which includes influencing knowledge-sharing behavior for Indonesian Facebook users in the context of social networking sites. Design/methodology/approach Indonesian students were recruited for an online survey study. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings Social capital has a crucial role in increasing cognitive-based trust and affective-based trust. Furthermore, affective-based trust is a partial mediator between social capital and knowledge-sharing behavior, whereas cognitive-based trust is a full mediator between social capital and knowledge-sharing behavior. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to Indonesian Facebook users. Future research needs to examine specific conditions, situational contexts and sub-cultures that may influence social capital, trust and knowledge-sharing behaviors of Facebook users in other parts of the world. Practical implications The education stakeholders can identify the user objectives and rational concerns to improve their social capital and trust and support their valuable and unique experiences to share knowledge. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on virtual communities. Specifically, it considers how social capital influences trust, which subsequently affects knowledge-sharing behavior based on the uses and gratifications theory among Facebook users.


Author(s):  
Chaoyun Liang ◽  
Chi-Cheng Chang ◽  
William Rothwell ◽  
Kuen-Ming Shu

The present study examined the influences and interactive effects of organizational culture, including trust, communication, and leadership, on online knowledge sharing based on social exchange theory and theories of trust, communication, and leadership. Two-hundred-ninety-seven members in three online engineering virtual communities from a knowledge management platform in a company were participants for filling in questionnaires. The results revealed that trust, communication, and leadership significantly affected online knowledge sharing. Members with high levels of trust, communication, or leadership had significantly better knowledge sharing than members with medium or low levels of trust, communication, or leadership. The results also showed a significant interactive effect of trust and communication on online knowledge sharing and a significant interactive effect of leadership and communication on online knowledge sharing, but there was no significant interactive effect of trust and leadership on online knowledge sharing. No previous studies have investigated the interactive effects of trust, communication and leadership on online knowledge sharing. That research finding is a significant contribution different from previous studies. Finally, this article offers suggestions for future research, implications of this study, and limitations of this study.


Author(s):  
Setiawan Assegaff ◽  
Kurniabudi Kurniabudi ◽  
Erick Fernando

<p>One of critical challenge in knowledge management success is to motivate people share their knowledge to others. Prior’s research reveals that motivation as primary driver for people to perform knowledge sharing. Previous study also indicated people influenced by internal (intrinsic) and external (extrinsic) motivation when perform the knowledge sharing. The aim of this article is to investigate and explores how the elements of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation contribute to people intention in perform knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Moreover this study would confirm and understand how this knowledge sharing behavior occurs in Indonesia Context. Many literatures argue that different culture context would produce different of people belief and behavior. This study conducts a survey in a formal virtual community of practices members in one Indonesia Company. Two hundred and four respondents participated in this study. Data was analysis using SEM with Smart PLS Software. This study found that both of those motivations (intrinsic and extrinsic) are positively influences behavior of people knowledge sharing in formal Virtual Communities of Practices. In advance this studies indicate that extrinsic motivation is major motivation element that influencing people in perform knowledge sharing.</p>


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