Study On The Impacting Factors Of Knowledge Sharing In Virtual Communities From The Perspective Of Knowledge Self-efficacy

Knowledge sharing is playing an increasingly important role in social development andeconomic progress. And the popularization and application of Web2.0virtual communitiesprovides a new platform for knowledge sharing. There are many familiar virtual communitiessuch as Baidu Know, Tianya Community and BBS of People’s University. This thesis studies theinfluencing factors of knowledge sharing in virtual community which is based on the perspectiveof knowledge self-efficacy.This thesis includes six parts. In the first part of the introduction, it illustrates the meaningand importance of knowledge sharing in virtual community. Also, it puts forward the studyinnovation of perspective of knowledge self-efficacy and research purpose, meaning,background and theory path of the study. Then it’s the literature review.The second part is the theoretical background. It discusses the theory such as Expectancytheory, Learning Theory, Theory of Reasoned Action, Altruism and Theory of Hierarchy ofNeed. It provides theoretical level’s support for late structure model development.The third part is assumptions and model development. This part centres on knowledgesharing behavior. It collects eight factors about perceived usefulness, seeker knowledge growth,knowledge quality, trust, community-related outcome expectations, psychological safety,enjoyment in helping and sense of self-worth. We studies the relationship between the factorsand knowledge behavio in the virtual community. Also, we regard knowledge seekingself-efficacy and knowledge contributing self-efficacy as the moderating factors. And then weadd the relationship between knowledge behavior and individual performance.The fourth part is about the research methods and data collection. Firstly it introduces thestructure equation model. All latent variables come from original documents. So we canreorganize their original measured variables directly to adapt to the environment in our study.Then we format a questionnaire and publish it on the internet and paper respectively. Thencollect384valid questionnaires seven weeks.The fifth part is data analysis and discuss. The thesis uses SmartPLS2.0and SPSS toanalysis data. Firstly we find all the index meeting the requirements. Then we contrastperception difference about knowledge behavior and ability. At last we find the factors aboutperceived usefulness, seeker knowledge growth, knowledge quality and trust are key influencingfactors of knowledge sharing, and trust, community-related outcome expectations, psychologicalsafety, enjoyment in helping and sense of self-worth are key influencing factors of knowledgesharing. Also, the knowledge self-efficacy is moderating factor of knowledge behavior.The sixth part is the conclusion. The research results will provide strong theoretical supportand practical guidance for promoting the efficient knowledge sharing and driving the healthydevelopment of virtual community. Also we illustrate the research innovation and limitations.