Essays on online communities : the motivation for and value of participation

Abstract

Online communities are one of the most popular forms of online applications and have attracted billions of participants worldwide for a variety of purposes. Two major questions about online communities have attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners: Why do people participate in online communities? and What value do people derive from participating in online communities? Research has shown that the answers to these questions are complex and highly contingent on the types of online communities, users, and behaviors. To enrich our understanding of online communities, this thesis addresses these two questions by examining topic-centric and transaction-centric online communities. To answer the first question (Why do people participate in online communities?), the first study focuses on topic-centric online communities, in which users engage in activities such as discussion and collaboration. Using the social identity approach and broaden-and-build theory, the first study proposes a research framework and conducts a survey to investigate the social and emotional motives for self-disclosure and self-presentation behavior in topic-centric online communities. The results show that positive emotions increase users’ learning of identity knowledge in a topic-centric online community; the internalization of the identity knowledge then affects users’ engagement in identity communication. To answer the second question (What is the value of online community participation?), the second study investigates the impact of external knowledge and learning approaches on third-party sellers on transaction-centric online communities. Transaction-centric online communities, such as Amazon and Taobao, typically support transaction-centric online communities. Drawing from the literature on self-regulatory processes and regulatory focus theory, the second study proposes a research model and uses survey data to explore how the business performance of third-party sellers are affected. The results do not support the hypothesis that the external knowledge has a significant impact on third-party sellers’ learning approaches, but it shows that different learning approaches motivate third-party sellers to conduct innovative and compliant behaviors, and such behaviors enhance their business performance. Together, the two studies deepen the current understanding of online communities by answering the questions “Why do people participate in online communities?” and “What is the value of online community participation?” Both studies present the results and discuss the practical implications and potential areas of future research. They also offer insights into the design and management of online communities that may improve participation and user value.