Social Network Based Research On Knowledge Sharing In Virtual Communities

In the era of knowledge-based economy, knowledge, an intangible resource, is gradually replacing the traditional physical resources (such as land, natural resources, capital and labor) to become a key factor in promoting social progress, "knowledge is power" is a true reflection of the stress on knowledge. However, most of the organizations and individuals can not have all the knowledge they need, but must rely on knowledge sharing with the outside world to acquire new knowledge.With the impressive development and popularization of the Internet, knowledge sharing do not necessarily need face to face communication, it also can be achieved through various electronic media, such as E-mail, instant messaging or chat rooms, forums and newsgroups, discussion lists, etc. These new electronic techniques have thus given birth to a new online communication space, which now is usually named virtual community (VC). VC, the new computer-mediated communication method on the Internet, has greatly accelerated the speed, breadth and ease of knowledge transfer, and thus meet the urgent demands for knowledge exchange and learning. The rapid development of virtual communities has aroused the interest of researchers and industry, the rise of virtual communities is considered an important driving force for knowledge management research.VC is an online communication platform in which people with common interests, goals, or practices interact to share information and knowledge, and engage in social interactions. It is centered upon the communications and interactions of participants to generate specific domain knowledge that enables the participants to perform common tasks and to learn from, contribute to, and collectively build upon that knowledge. The richness of knowledge, enthusiastic discussion and timely interaction in VC are the key indicators of its prosperity. Knowledge sharing has been found to be a motivation for participation in VCs and VC builders. Although VCs provides a convenient platform for knowledge sharing, but not as long as it was built, people will actively participate to share. Contrast to those well-known community sites, there are still many VCs in which user participation is not sufficient, so that the community declines soon after its creation. Therefore, it is necessary to study the the mechanism and influencing factors of knowledge sharing behavior in VCs and then explore the measures to improve knowledge sharing in VCs.Strictly speaking, knowledge, especially the particular tacit knowledge, can not be self-existent independent of its owners. Knowledge is concealed in human brains and shared through mutual interactions. Recently, more and more researchers begin to focus on the underlying social network among peoples in studying their knowledge sharing behavior, social network based research on knowledge sharing becomes a new research paradigm. In this research paradigm, knowledge sharing behaivior and its influencing factors are analyzed from the aspect of relations and structure of social network. The important theory basis for studying knowledge sharing in social network is that the subjects of knowledge sharing, humans, are embedded in concrete and real-time social relation sytems.Currently, most social network based researches on knowledge sharing are devoted to traditional groups or organizations, these studies usually examine the social relations and network structure which influence knowledge sharing behavior through empirical researches with transverse data collections. The openness and virtuality of VC make the knowledge sharing in VCs different from that in traditonal organizations, so the process and characterisics of knowledge sharing in VC needs to be further studied. At the same time, the social relationship among VC members is also different from that in traditional organizations and the structure and its impact on knowledge sharing are not clear yet.Based on the above background analysis and prior researches, this dissertation tries to expand the social network based knowledge shaing research in virtual communities integrating theories of social network, knowledge sharing and public goods. Social network analysis and statistical analysis methods and tools are used and a typical professional VC, ASPChina, is studied in empirical research. The main content and contributions of this dissertation are as following:(1) The establishment of theoretical framework for social network based knowledge sharing research in VC. Beginning with the definition of VC, the character of VC was analyzed by comparing with traditional communities. The relationship between knowledge sharing and VC was clarified and the process of knowledge sharing in VCs was described. The characteristics, challenges and advantages of knowledge shaing in VCs, compared to that in tradional organizations, were also elaborated. A quantitative method for evaluation of knowledge sharing in VCs was proposed. Finally, the influence of human interaction relationship and knowledge relationship among VC members on knowledge sharing behavior was analyzed from the prospective of social network(2) The development of the model for knowledge sharing network in virtual communities. Based on prior theoretical reserach framework, the knowledge sharing network in VCs was modeled and the correlation of the two kinds of relations was analyzed in theory. Then, the public goods characteristics of community public knowledge was analyzed and the knowledge sharing behavior in VCs was looked as collective action to generate community public knowledge.The mechanism of knowledge sharing behavior in VCs was analyzed in theory from the perspective of social network, combining with empirical study, the knowledge sharing network structure and the correlation between the two kinds of relationships was analyzed and validated.(3)The evolution analysis of knowledge sharing network and it's impact on knowledge sharing in VC. Firstly,the evolution of the two relations and the structure of knowledge sharing network were analyzed through social network analysis, including the evolution of tie strength, node degree distribution, network density, network centrality and network reciprocity through each period, and the result was compared with the knowledge sharing level in each period. The correlation analysis of changes in relation and network structure with changes in the level of knowledge sharing revealed the influences of knowledge sharing network structure on the quantity and quality of knowledge sharing in VC(4) Studies on support strategies for knowledge sharing in VC. Based on prior analysis of knowledge sharing in VC, support strategies were studied from three aspects:(a) support and keeping of knowledge seekers in VC; (b) personalized technical support system for knowledge sharing in VC and (c) development of core members in VC.The innovative points of this dissertation can be summarized as following:(1)Propose the knowledge sharing network model integrating interpersonal interaction relationship and knowledge relationship to investigate knowledge sharing in VC. In the social network based research on knowledge sharing in VC, two kinds of relationships, interpersonal relationship and knowledge relationship, were considered simultaneously. In most prior researches, only the impact of one relationship, the interpersonal relationship, was invetigated.(2) Invetigate the impact of relation and network structure of knowledge sharing network on knowledge sharing in virtual communities from a longitudinal and dynamic perspective. In this study, considering the virtual nature and openness of virtual communities, the overall development process of a virtual community was divided into four stages, the longitudinal data collection was used to show the evolution of knowledge sharing network and the fluctuation in knowledge sharing in a virtual community, and investigate the influence of relation and network structure of knowledge sharing network on knowledge sharing, and the study belongs to dynamic analysis. While in almost all current social networks based researches on knowledge sharing, it is assumed that social relations and network structure keep stable, and these researches belong_to static analysis, but this assumption is not suitable for virtual communities.(3) Analyze the mechanism of knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge sharing network structure in virtual community integrating public goods characteristics analysis of community knowledge, and this is not present in prior researches on virtual communities.(4) Propose personalized support system framework for knowledge sharing in virtual community. In this framework, community members' knowledge relationship and interpersonal interaction relationship are all considered to provide personalized support for community members to improve the efficiency of knowledge sharing. Above all, this study presents a new perspective for research on knowledge sharing in virtual communities, and it is the development and supplement of the current theory and application research on knowledge sharing and social networks, the study has important theoretical implication. While the results also provide some advices on how to improve knowledge sharing in virtual community and make the community more attractive and popular, so that community members can benefit more from the community and create greater value for its builders, so the study also has important practical significance.In order to study knowledge sharing in virtual community from a longitudinal and dynamic perspective, a representative of the professional forum-based virtual community-ChinaASP is studied and historical knowledge sharing interaction data of 10 years span, from July 2001 to June 2011, is collected using web crawling software, the data completely shows the development process of the community with the evolution of its knowledge sharing network and the fluctuation in knowledge sharing, it provides a comprehensive empirical data base for this study.