The Role of Trust and Commitment in Continuous Knowledge Contribution Intention within Business Online Communities

The success of an online community relies on the willingness of its members to be a part of and continuously participate within the community. In other words, online communities are successful if members continuously contribute knowledge to the community. In Information System research, few studies exist examining the determinants of continuous knowledge contribution. This paper fills the gap by examining the influence of identity trust and affective commitment on this behavioural intention. This paper investigates continuous knowledge contribution intention within the context of business online communities. The research model is analyzed using Partial Least Square. The research findings reveal that, besides user‟s level of satisfaction, continuous knowledge contribution intention is mediated by affective commitment and identity trust. This study also provides some insights on how to encourage continuous knowledge contribution intention within business online communities