Knowledge sharing behavior in learning online communities: A social capital perspective

Learning online communities enabled a new way of knowledge sharing and innovation. Adopting a social perspective and drawing on social capital theory, this paper investigated how dimensions of members´ social capital interacting influenced on knowledge sharing behavior in learning online community. With 478 valid responses from an online survey, the study tested hypotheses about relationships of social interaction ties, reciprocity, trust, shared vision and knowledge sharing behavior. The analytical results demonstrated that reciprocity and social interaction ties exerted significant impacts on knowledge sharing in learning online communities. The implications of the study findings were finally discussed.