An Investigation of the Factors That Motivate Users to Participate in Online Communities

2022 ◽  
pp. 20-36
Author(s):  
Mohammad Al Khasawneh ◽  
Ola A. Al Hadeed ◽  
Tariq Abdrabbo ◽  
Mohammad Yousef Abu Hashesh ◽  
Muhammad Al-Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Motivation To Participate

The objective of this research is to contribute to the understanding of the online community by empirically examining the major factors motivating online community members to participate and actively contribute to their communities. In pursuing this endeavor, a comprehensive conceptual model of motivations that drive online community participation is developed based on an extensive revision of the existing relevant literature. However, modest research had been conducted to understand the online participant's motivation to participate in online communities. Thus, the current research model will enhance understanding and add to the relevant existing knowledge by categorizing digital user's motivation to participate in online communities, through the employment of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Herzberg's two-factor theory. The paper used a deductive methodological approach adopted.

An Investigation of the Factors That Motivate Users to Participate in Online Communities

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-31
Author(s):  
Mohammad Al Khasawneh ◽  
Ola A. Al Hadeed ◽  
Tariq Abdrabbo ◽  
Mohammad Yousef Abu Hashesh ◽  
Muhammad Al-Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Motivation To Participate

The objective of this research is to contribute to the understanding of the online community by empirically examining the major factors motivating online community members to participate and actively contribute to their communities. In pursuing this endeavor, a comprehensive conceptual model of motivations that drive online community participation is developed based on an extensive revision of the existing relevant literature. However, modest research had been conducted to understand the online participant's motivation to participate in online communities. Thus, the current research model will enhance understanding and add to the relevant existing knowledge by categorizing digital user's motivation to participate in online communities, through the employment of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Herzberg's two-factor theory. The paper used a deductive methodological approach adopted.

Trusting the Knowledge of Large Online Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 243-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Storck ◽  
Lauren E. Storck
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Limited Life ◽  
Effective Leader ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Online Communities Of Practice ◽  
Taking Action ◽  
Important Branch ◽  
Training Practice

The phrase “leading from behind” is borrowed from group analytic theory, an important branch of group psychology. For some, the phrase may be pejorative: an effective leader is normally in front of group members, not taking a position behind them. However, for large online Communities of Practice, leading from behind and trusting the group is an important strategy. This chapter focuses on how a leader develops the capacity to trust the group. Recognizing that groups of people are powerful and creative organisms that can be trusted is difficult for a leader. For Freud, who thought of groups as unthinking, primitive mobs and for modern managers, who are taught the value of using teams with specific objectives and limited life spans, the idea of unstructured, dispersed collections of people making decisions or taking action is an anathema. Learning to trust the knowledge of a large group takes training, practice and courage. We ground our conclusions in an empirical analysis of the leadership of one large online Community of Practice. Using archives of discussions among community members, we develop leadership principles that support the “leading from behind” approach. We use these data to suggest how managers can lead online communities to form the trusting relationships that are essential for effective knowledge sharing and innovation.

Using networked narratives to understand internet book reviews in online communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Kuei Huang ◽  
Wen I. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Word Of Mouth Communication ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose – The aim of this paper was to investigate word-of-mouth communication behavior and other interactions between bloggers writing book testimonials and their community of readers in order to develop a method and strategy for enhancing word-of-mouth communication about books. Design/methodology/approach – This study conducted a netnographic investigation to explore word-of-mouth communication and interactions about new books between bloggers and their community of readers. Netnography is a qualitative approach for exploring the information exchange among online community members. Findings – It was found that personality traits, testimonials, and the responses of community readers to bloggers affected word-of-mouth related to books. Exposure to testimonials with commercial characteristics will not necessarily hinder the word-of-mouth about books. Practical implications – These results may provide a reference for publishers or related businesses that sell books or products via blogs during the planning of their marketing strategies. Originality/value – Businesses value the effects of online communities on marketing communication. This study provides insights into the communication between bloggers and their community of readers by demonstrating how word-of-mouth affects the promotion of books. This could facilitate the selection of relevant recommendations by management.

Are online communities on par with experts in the evaluation of new movies? Evidence from the Fandango community

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep Kumar Ponnamma Divakaran ◽  
Sladjana Nørskov
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Box Office ◽  
Geographic Context ◽  
Film Studios ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Performance Research ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate two questions. First, are movie-based online community evaluations (CE) on par with film expert evaluations of new movies? Second, which group makes more reliable and accurate predictions of movie box office revenues: film reviewers or an online community? Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a movie-based online community Fandango for a 16-month period and included all movies released during this time (373 movies). The authors compared film reviewers’ evaluations with the online CE during the first eight weeks of the movie’s release. Findings – The study finds that community members evaluate movies differently than film reviewers. The results also reveal that CE have more predictive power than film reviewers’ evaluations, especially during the opening week of a movie. Research limitations/implications – The investigated online community is based in the USA, hence the findings are limited to this geographic context. Practical implications – The main implication is that film studios and movie-goers can rely more on CE than film reviewers’ evaluation for decision making. Online CE can help film studios in negotiating with distributors, theatre owners for the number of screens. Also, community reviews rather than film reviewers’ reviews are looked upon by future movie-goers for movie choice decisions. Originality/value – The study makes an original contribution to the motion picture performance research as well as to the growing research on online consumer communities by demonstrating the predictive potential of online communities with regards to evaluations of new movies.

Toward an Understanding of Online Community Participation through Narrative Network Analysis

2012 ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Weeks
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Systematic Examination ◽  
Proposed Model

This chapter proposes the narrative network analysis methodology for application in the examination of online communities. The narrative network analysis provides a basis for systematic examination of online communities that has been missing from the literature. The chapter describes three online communities and their characteristics to demonstrate the possibilities of the methodology. From these descriptions a proposed model of the communities is presented, and then an abbreviated narrative network analysis is developed. The network analysis demonstrates how an ethnographically informed model may be tested in a systematic manner with the narrative network analysis techniques. The chapter then concludes with a number of questions for future research in this area that have been proposed by other authors. These unanswered questions are likely candidates for future research using this promising methodology.

The Role of Online Social Interaction in the Recommendation of a Brand Community

2020 ◽  
pp. 782-802
Author(s):  
Cleopatra Veloutsou ◽  
Laurence Dessart ◽  
Georgia Maria Arvaniti
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Strategy Games ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Willingness To Recommend

This chapter focuses on the growing role of consumer-brand communities in the online context and in particular brand communities in online strategy games. It explores the loyalty of community members toward the other members, as expressed by their willingness to recommend the online community externally. Using data collected from 384 gamers, this chapter suggests that the strength of the relationship with the game brand and the need to socialise are good predictors of brand community participation, as expressed by the brand community engagement and the brand community identification. Brand community participation ultimately leads to the brand community recommendation intention.

Online Communities and Community Building

2005 ◽  
pp. 2203-2208
Author(s):  
Martin C. Kindsmuller ◽  
Sandro Leuchter ◽  
Leon Urbas
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Real Community

“Online community” is one of today’s buzzwords. Even though superficially it is not hard to understand, the term has become somewhat vague while being extensively used within the e-commerce business. Within this article, we refer to online community as being a voluntary group of users who partake actively in a certain computer-mediated service. The term “online community” is preferred over the term “virtual community,” as it denotes the character of the community more accurately: community members are interacting online as opposed to face to face. Furthermore, the term “virtual community” seems too unspecific, because it includes other communities that only exist virtually, whereas an online community in our definition is always a real community in the sense that community members know that they are part of the community.

From Lurkers to Workers: Predicting Voluntary Contribution and Community Welfare

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 607-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios Kokkodis ◽  
Theodoros Lappas ◽  
Sam Ransbotham
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Discussion Threads ◽  
Voluntary Contribution ◽  
User Activity

In an online community, users can interact with fellow community members by voluntarily contributing to existing discussion threads or by starting new threads. In practice, however, the vast majority of a community’s users (∼90%) remain inactive (lurk), simply observing contributions made by intermittent (∼9%) and heavy (∼1%) contributors. Our research examines increases and decreases of types of user engagement in online communities, characterizing user engagement based on trace user activity or lack of activity. Some lurkers later become workers (i.e., engaged in the community), but some will not. Differentiating lurkers who can be engaged from those who cannot enables managers to anticipate and proactively direct their resources toward the users who are most likely to become or remain workers (i.e., heavy contributors), thereby promoting community welfare. Our research, based on analysis of 533,714 posts from an online diabetes community, can thus guide managerial interventions to increase online community welfare.

Elements of the management of norms and their effects on the sense of virtual community

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Petrič ◽  
Andraž Petrovčič
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
System Level ◽  
Community Management ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how decisions of managers and administrators of online communities on norms and rules affect the sense of virtual community (SOVC), which is an important factor of the quality of online information. Design/methodology/approach – The study followed a two-level research design based on 970 online community members, nested within 36 online communities. Data collection consisted of two stages: first a web survey of a sample of online community members was conducted, followed by a web survey of administrators of the same online communities. A two-level hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings – The empirical results suggest that prominence of rules under the condition of members’ participation in their creation, presence of reputation mechanisms, and content moderation contribute significantly to the SOVC , while presence of lighter sanctions and interactive moderation do not. Research limitations/implications – Since this study is based on web forums, the validity of the proposed hypotheses for other types of online communities cannot be firmly established. Additional elements of online community management could be considered for a stronger system-level explanation of the SOVC. Practical implications – The study demonstrates that online community administrators need to be considerate in creating and enforcing norms, as their decisions have an impact on the SOVC and consequently on the quality of online information. Originality/value – The literature considers many factors of the SOVC but none of the previous studies have considered how community management is associated with this phenomenon.

Studying the influence of Bulletin Board System technologies on the communication culture of pre-internet Turkish-speaking online communities: a socio-technical approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 37-69
Author(s):  
Ivo Furman
Keyword(s):  
Communication Networks ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Bulletin Board ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Technological Infrastructure ◽  
History Of ◽  
Communication Culture

AbstractHow does the technological infrastructure of a communications medium influence the culture of an online community? Taking up a socio-technical (STS) approach to online communities and computer mediated communication, this study introduces and explores the communication culture of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) active in Turkey between 1995 and 1996. In the first part of the study, the researcher provides a brief history of BBS networks worldwide and of pre-Internet communication networks in Turkey. In the second part, using a sample from a privately owned archive of correspondences from Hitnet, a national-scale FidoNet-style BBS network popular in Turkey between 1992 and 1996, the study documents how some of the technical constraints on the level of hardware, software, and human-computer interaction (HCI) influenced the communication culture of the Hitnet community. At the same time, the study pays especial attention to the workarounds devised by community members to work around these constraints.

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