Main content:
From a social capital perspective, this study investigated factors that cultivate a VC member’s sense of belonging and their effects on facilitating his participation in the VC in terms of the intentions to get and share experiences and knowledge.
Given the importance of both the sense of belonging and participation in VC success, the author’s research reported here attempts to answer the following two research questions. First, what factors would cultivate the sense of belonging of VC members to a VC. Second, what factors would encourage their participation in the VC in terms of getting and sharing information, experiences, and/or knowledge? In this study, we investigate these issues from a social capital perspective, which focuses on the resources rooted in the relationships among people, how these resources formed, and what outcomes they could bring about.
The results indicated that three factors that relate to three dimensions of social capital in the VC – familiarity with members in the VC from the structural dimension, perceived similarity with other members from the cognitive dimension, and trust in other members from the relational dimension – are all positively related to the sense of belonging, which affects intentions to get and share knowledge and mediates the relationships between social capital factors and a VC member’s intentions to participate.
Research model:
Based on above review of the social capital theory, the author developed the research model as depicted in the below, the author hypothesize that the factors reflecting the three dimensions of social capital directly and indirectly influence the participation in a VC, which is measured by the intentions to get information from and share knowledge with the community. Sense of belonging is crucial as it mediates the relationship between social capital factors and participation behaviors. Model hypothesize:
H1a. Sense of belonging to a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to get knowledge from the VC.
H1b. Sense of belonging to a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to share knowledge in the VC.
H2a. Trust in other members of a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to get knowledge from the VC
H2b. Trust in other members of a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to share knowledge to the VC
H2c. Trust in other members positively affects a VC member’s sense of belonging to the VC.
H3a. Familiarity with other members of a VC positively affects a VC member’s trust in other members of the VC.
H3b. Familiarity with other members of a VC positively affects a VC member’s perceived similarity with other members of the VC.
H3c. Familiarity with other members of a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to get knowledge from the VC.
H3d. Familiarity with other members of a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to share knowledge with the VC
H4a. Perceived similarity with other members positively affects a VC member’s trust in other members in the VC.
H4b. Perceived similarity with other members in a VC positively affects a VC member’s sense of belonging to the VC.
H4c. Perceived similarity with other members in a VC positively affects a VC member’s intention to get knowledge from the VC
H4d. Perceived similarity with other members in