Knowledge Sharing Continuance Intention in Virtual Community : Integration of Expectation-Confirmation Theory and Motivation Theory

[[abstract]]In modern society, an online Virtual Community is a crucial Knowledge-Sharing platform that collates and integrates knowledge generated by the community members’ brainstorming. In the open environment of the Internet, many users are extremely enthusiastic and willing to share their knowledge or experience, whereas numerous others prefer to be bystanders rather than contributors. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence Knowledge Sharing for Internet users, as well as the correlations between these factors, will assist in promoting continued Knowledge Sharing among Internet users and expand the use or effectiveness of knowledge. This study was based on Expectation Confirmation theory, and supplemented by motivation theory. We investigated the opinions of current virtual community users regarding Knowledge-Sharing from a number of perspectives, including expectation-confirmation, satisfaction, continuance intention for sharing, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Enjoyment, and the correlation among these variables. An online survey was conducted to collect opinions from 298 users of virtual communities. The results show that the users of virtual communities held positive attitudes toward Expectation-Confirmation, satisfaction, continuance intention, Perceived Usefulness, and Perceived Enjoyment for Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities. Furthermore, positive correlations exist between the variables. Finally, we discuss the academic and practical implications of this study to act as references and recommendations for subsequent studies on knowledge-sharing in virtual communities.Key words: Virtual Community , Knowledge Share , Expectation-Confirmation , Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Enjoymen