Knowledge Sharing in an Online Community of Volunteers: The Role of Community Munificence

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynep Erden ◽  
Georg Von Krogh ◽  
Seonwoo Kim
Author(s):  
Jingchuan Pu ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Yuan Chen ◽  
Liangfei Qiu ◽  
Hsing Kenneth Cheng

Are employees willing to voluntarily share knowledge with their higher-ups? The existing studies show that the answer is no—employees are less likely to share knowledge with their higher-ups in the offline setting, corporate wikis, and online discussion groups. We answer the same question in a corporate question-and-answer (Q&A) community and argue that the answer can be yes. A potential-dyads approach and a quasi-natural experiment jointly demonstrate that employees are inclined to answer a question from their higher-ups and even exert more effort in those answers. Using an instrumental-variable design, we show that users who post more answers to higher-ranked individuals and who display greater effort in those answers are more likely to get promoted in subsequent years, meaning that employees do not need to worry about their careers when sharing knowledge with their higher-ups in corporate Q&A communities. Our research, together with research on other contexts, are useful for companies to take the role of the managers into account when considering which type of online community to adopt. Community designers can use our findings to better motivate knowledge sharing by considering users’ different job ranks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-476
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Ushkarev ◽  
Galina G. Gedovius ◽  
Tatyana V. Petrushina

The technological revolution of recent decades has already brought art to the broadest masses, and the unexpected intervention of the pandemic has significantly accelerated the process of migration of theatrical art to the virtual space, causing the corresponding dynamics of the audience. What is the theater audience in the era of digitalization and the spread of alternative forms of cultural consumption? How does the theater build its relationship with the audience today? In search of answers, we conducted a series of sociological surveys of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater’s audience — both at the theater’s performances and in the online community of its fans. The purpose of this phase of the study was to answer the fundamental questions: do spectators surveyed in the theater and those surveyed online represent the same audience; what are their main differences; and what are the drivers of their spectator behavior? The article presents the main results of a comparative analysis of two images of the Moscow Art Theatre’s audience based on a number of content parameters by two types of surveys, as well as the results of a regression analysis of the theater attendance. The study resulted in definition of the qualitative and behavioral differences between the theater visitors and the viewers surveyed online, and identification of the factors of theater attendance for both of the represented audience groups. The study made it possible to clarify the role of age and other socio-demographic parameters in cultural activity, as well as the influence of preferred forms of cultural consumption (live contacts or online views) on one’s attitude to art, motivation and spectator behavior. The conclusions of the study, despite the uniqueness of the object, reflect the general patterns of the modern art audience’s dynamics.


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