A cross‐level model based on the information processing perspective and trait activation theory was developed and tested in order to investigate the effects of individual‐level epistemic motivation and team‐level task reflexivity on three different individual contribution behaviors (i.e., adding, deleting, and revising) in the process of knowledge creation on team wikis. Using the Hierarchical Linear Modeling software package and the 2‐wave data from 166 individuals in 51 wiki‐based teams, we found cross‐level interaction effects between individual epistemic motivation and team task reflexivity on different knowledge contribution behaviors on wikis. Epistemic motivation exerted a positive effect on adding, which was strengthened by team task reflexivity. The effect of epistemic motivation on deleting was positive only when task reflexivity was high. In addition, epistemic motivation was strongly positively related to revising, regardless of the level of task reflexivity involved.

In this study we examine the contingent effects of two cultural values, indulgence and individualism, on the relationships between perceived benefits (utilitarian value, hedonic value, and relational capital), affective commitment, and continuance intention in social virtual worlds. We test our theoretical model in multi-group analyses using SmartPLS 2.0, based on a sample of 414 Second Life users from the U.S.A., Great Britain, and numerous other countries. By comparing the high- vs the low-indulgence subsamples, we find that indulgence weakens the effect of utilitarian value, but strengthens the effect of hedonic value, on affective commitment. Furthermore, compared with low-individualism users, the users with high-individualism showed a weaker effect of relational capital on affective commitment, as well as a weaker effect of affective commitment on continuance intention. The theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

This study investigates the motivational factors affecting the quantity and quality of voluntary knowledge contribution in online Q&A communities. Although previous studies focus on knowledge contribution quantity, this study regards quantity and quality as two important, yet distinct, aspects of knowledge contribution. Drawing on self‐determination theory, this study proposes that five motivational factors, categorized along the extrinsic‐intrinsic spectrum of motivation, have differential effects on knowledge contribution quantity versus quality in the context of online Q&A communities. An online survey with 367 participants was conducted in a leading online Q&A community to test the research model. Results show that rewards in the reputation system, learning, knowledge self‐efficacy, and enjoy helping stand out as important motivations. Furthermore, rewards in the reputation system, as a manifestation of the external regulation, is more effective in facilitating the knowledge contribution quantity than quality. Knowledge self‐efficacy, as a manifestation of intrinsic motivation, is more strongly related to knowledge contribution quality, whereas the other intrinsic motivation, enjoy helping, is more strongly associated with knowledge contribution quantity. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Although e-commerce adoption and customers’ initial purchasing behavior have been well studied in the literature, repeat purchase intention and its antecedents remain understudied. This study proposes a model to understand the extent to which trust mediates the effects of vendor-specific factors on customers’ intention to repurchase from an online vendor. The model was tested and validated in two different country settings. We found that trust fully mediates the relationships between perceived reputation, perceived capability of order fulfillment, and repurchasing intention, and partially mediates the relationship between perceived website quality and repurchasing intention in both countries. Moreover, multi-group analysis reveals no significant between-country differences of the model with regards to the antecedents and outcomes of trust, except the effect of reputation on trust. Academic and practical implications and future research are discussed.

Abstract The Open Source Software (OSS) development model has emerged as an important competing paradigm to proprietary alternatives; however, insufficient research exists to understand the influence of some OSS project characteristics on the level of activity of the development process. A basic such characteristic is the selection of the project's software license. Drawing upon social movement theory, our study examined the relationship between OSS licenses and project activity. Some OSS licenses include a “copyleft” clause, which requires that if derivative products are to be released, it must be done under the license the original product had. We hypothesize that copylefted licenses, as opposed to noncopylefted licenses, are associated with higher developer membership and coding activity, faster development speed, and longer developer permanence in the project. To test the hypotheses, we used archival data sources of working OSS projects spanning several years of development time. We discuss practical and theoretical implications of the results as well as future research ideas.

Abstract Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) have become increasingly popular as a knowledge‐sharing tool in contemporary corporations. Enticing employees to seek knowledge from KMS remains an important concern for researchers and practitioners. Trust has been widely recognized in many studies as an important enabling factor for seeking knowledge; however, the role of trust in promoting knowledge‐seeking behavior using KMS has not been adequately addressed. Drawing upon the extant literature on trust and information technology adoption, this article examines the relationships between the knowledge seekers' trust in the community of KMS users , their perceptions toward the system (perceived usefulness and perceived seeking efforts), and the intention to continually use the KMS. The results reveal that trust in the community of KMS users does not directly affect the employees' knowledge‐seeking continuance intention; rather, it happens indirectly through a mediated effect of perceived usefulness of the KMS. Furthermore, we find that trust seems to be a stronger determinant of perceived usefulness than of perceived seeking efforts. Our study thus demonstrates the indirect, but still crucial, role of trust in knowledge‐seeking behavior in the context of corporate KMS usage. Other findings and the implications of this study for both researchers and practitioners are correspondingly discussed.