Examining the Factors Influencing Continued Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Knowledge Repository

Electronic knowledge repositories facilitate knowledge discovery and reuse by providing computer-mediated repositories for users to codify their expertise. However, why individuals volunteer to help strangers in these electronic networks is not well understood. There is no apparent benefit for the contributor and free-riders have same access to the public good as everyone else. Based on previous research positing that the interaction created by network participants produces an online public good of knowledge, the purpose of this paper is to investigate individuals’ intention to continue sharing knowledge in electronic knowledge repository. Drawing from social cognitive theory, and cognitive evaluation theory, we propose a theoretical model employing environmental factors such as feedback, rewards, and communication, and individual motivations such as perceived knowledge self-efficacy and self-esteem to explain person’s behavior (continuance intention) to contribute knowledge in the electronic knowledge repositories.