Understanding the Intention of Giving Information in Virtual Communities

The major activity in a virtual community is information exchange among members. However, even in busy virtual communities, usually only a small fraction of members post information actively. Our interest in this study was seeking a better understanding of the psychological determinants that drive people to give information actively and voluntarily. An empirical study was conducted and 273 responses that have experiences in virtual communities were collected. The research model was mainly evaluated and validated with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-LISREL. The results suggest that members’ perceived self-efficacy, perceived soft rewards, trust to other members, social identity, and positive anticipated emotions have positively effects on intention of giving information through the mediation of desire