Exploring the Influential Factors of Askers’ Intention to Pay in Knowledge Q&A Platforms
Zhao Yuxiang1(), Liu Zhouying1, Song Shijie2
1School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China 2School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
[Objective] This paper explores the influencing factors of the askers’ intention to pay, aiming to promote the development of the knowledge Q&A platforms. [Methods] First, we compared the similarities and differences between the traditional and the new generation of knowledge Q&A platforms after conducting comprehensive literature review. Then, we built a model and conducted an empirical study on the askers’ intention to pay based on the theory of social exchange and social capital. [Results] The perceived value posed significant positive impact on the askes’ intention to pay. The financial benefit, social support, self-enhancement and entertainment had significant positive impacts on perceived value, while the financial cost had significant negative impacts on the askers’ intention to pay. The positive reciprocity belief posed significant positive effects on the financial costs, and the askers’ trust in the answerer also positively changed the relationship between perceived value and intention to pay. [Limitations] The study only employed cross-section data, and most of the data were self-reported. [Conclusions] The research contributes to the theoretical foundation of examining askers’ intention to use the payment-based knowledge Q&A platforms. It also offers some practical suggestion to the design and management of these new systems.
Cheng M.Sharing Economy: A Review and Agenda for Future Research[J]. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 2016, 57: 60-70.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.06.003
[2]
Hamari J, Sjöklint M, Ukkonen A.The Sharing Economy: Why People Participate in Collaborative Consumption[J]. Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 2016, 67(9): 2047-2059.
[3]
关于促进分享经济发展的指导性意见 [OL]. [2017-07-03]. .
[3]
(Guidance on Promoting the Development of Sharing Economy[OL]. [2017-07-03].
(Liu Zhouying, Zhao Yuxiang.A Preliminary Study on the Operation Mode of the Paid Knowledge Q&A Community Based on the Voice Chat: Taking Fenda and Zhihu as Cases[J]. Library & Information, 2017(4): 38-46.)
doi: 10.11968/tsyqb.1003-6938.2017071
(Zhiku Live Report: How Many Netizens are Willing to Pay for Knowledge? | Research on Knowledge Payment [OL]. [2016-12-19].
[6]
Choi E, Shah C.User Motivations for Asking Questions in Online Q&A Services[J]. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2015,67(5):1182-1197.
doi: 10.1002/asi.23490
[7]
Wilson T D.On User Studies and Information Needs[J]. Journal of Documentation, 1981, 37(1): 3-15.
doi: 10.1108/eb026702
[8]
Zhang Y.Contextualizing Consumer Health Information Searching: An Analysis of Questions in a Social Q&A Community[C]//Proceedings of the 1st ACM International Health Informatics Symposium. ACM, 2010: 210-219.
[9]
Choi E, Kitzie V, Shah C.Developing a Typology of Online Q&A Models and Recommending the Right Model for Each Question Type[J]. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2012, 49(1): 1-4.
[10]
Lee J H, Downie J S, Cunningham S J.Challenges in Cross-Cultural/Multilingual Music Information Seeking[C]// Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR). 2005: 1-7.
[11]
Morris M R, Teevan J, Panovich K.What do People Ask Their Social Networks, and Why?: A Survey Study of Status Message Q&A Behavior[C]//Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 2010: 1739-1748.
[12]
Chen Y, Ho T H U A, Kim Y M I. Knowledge Market Design: A Field Experiment at Google Answers[J]. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 2010, 12(4): 641-664.
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2010.01468.x
[13]
Zeithaml V A.Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value: A Means-end Model and Synthesis of Evidence[J]. Journal of Marketing, 1988, 52(3): 2-22.
doi: 10.2307/1251446
[14]
Kim H W, Xu Y, Gupta S.Which is More Important in Internet Shopping, Perceived Price or Trust?[J]. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 2012, 11(3): 241-252.
doi: 10.1016/j.elerap.2011.06.003
[15]
Wu K, Vassileva J, Noorian Z, et al.How do You Feel When You See a List of Prices? The Interplay Among Price Dispersion, Perceived Risk and Initial Trust in Chinese C2C Market[J]. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2015, 25: 36-46.
doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.03.007
[16]
Homans G C.Social Behavior as Exchange[J]. American Journal of Sociology, 1958, 63(6): 597-606.
doi: 10.1086/222355
[17]
Cropanzano R, Mitchell M S.Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review[J]. Journal of Management, 2005, 31(6): 874-900.
[18]
Zhao L, Lu Y, Wang B, et al.Cultivating the Sense of Belonging and Motivating User Participation in Virtual Communities: A Social Capital Perspective[J].International Journal of Information Management, 2012, 32: 574-588.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.02.006
[19]
Chiu C M, Hsu M H, Wang E T G. Understanding Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities: An Integration of Social Capital and Social Cognitive Theories[J]. Decision Support Systems, 2006, 42(3): 1872-1888.
doi: 10.1016/j.dss.2006.04.001
[20]
Nahapie J, Ghoshal S. Social Capital, Intellectual Capital,the Organizational Advantage[J]. Academy of Management Journal, 1998, 23(2): 242-266.
[21]
Kankanhalli A, Tan B, Wei K K.Contributing Knowledge to Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Investigation[J]. MIS Quarterly, 2005, 29(1): 113-143.
doi: 10.2307/25148670
[22]
Hall H.Borrowed Theory: Applying Exchange Theories in Information Science Research[J]. Library & Information Science Research, 2003, 25(3): 287-306.
doi: 10.1016/S0740-8188(03)00031-8
Kim H W, Xu Y, Gupta S.Which is More Important in Internet Shopping, Perceived Price or Trust?[J]. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 2012, 11(3): 241-252.
doi: 10.1016/j.elerap.2011.06.003
[25]
Shafiq R, Raza I, Zia-ur-Rehman M. Analysis of the Factors Affecting Customers’ Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Perceived Value[J]. African Journal of Business Management, 2011, 5(26): 10577-10585.
[26]
Shu W, Chuang Y H.Why People Share Knowledge in Virtual Communities[J]. Social Behavior and Personality, 2011, 39(5): 671-690.
doi: 10.2224/sbp.2011.39.5.671
[27]
Beck R, Rai A, Fischbach K, et al.Untangling Knowledge Creation and Knowledge Integration in Enterprise Wikis[J]. Journal of Business Economics, 2015, 85(4): 389-420.
doi: 10.1007/s11573-014-0760-2
[28]
Zhang J, Qu Y, Hansen D.User Acceptance of Micro-blogging in the Enterprise[C]//Proceedings of the 4th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. 2010.
[29]
Dodds W B, Monroe K B.The Effect of Brand and Price Information on Subjective Product Evaluations[J]. NA-Advances in Consumer Research, 1985, 12(3):85-90.
doi: 10.2307/2392687
[30]
Hau Y S, Kim B, Lee H, et al.The Effects of Individual Motivations and Social Capital on Employees’ Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Sharing Intentions[J]. International Journal of Information Management, 2013, 33(2): 356-366.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.10.009
[31]
Hsieh G, Kraut R E, Hudson S E.Why Pay?: Exploring How Financial Incentives are Used for Question & Answer[C]//Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 2010: 305-314.
[32]
Ye H J, Kankanhalli A.Solvers’ Participation in Crowdsourcing Platforms: Examining the Impacts of Trust, and Benefit and Cost Factors[J]. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 2017, 26(2): 101-117.
doi: 10.1016/j.jsis.2017.02.001
[33]
Cobb S.Social Support as a Moderator of Life Stress[J]. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1976, 38(5): 300-314.
doi: 10.1097/00006842-197609000-00003
[34]
Pfeil U.Online Support Communities[A]//Social Computing and Virtual Communities[M]. New York: CRC Press, 2009: 124-127.
[35]
Elliott R, Bohart A C, Watson J C, et al.Empathy[J] Psychotherapy Theory Research Practice Training, 2011, 48(1):43-49.
doi: 10.1037/a0022187
[36]
Walter H.Social Cognitive Neuroscience of Empathy: Concepts, Circuits, and Genes[J]. Emotion Review, 2012, 4(1): 9-17.
doi: 10.1177/1754073911421379
[37]
Lin X, Zhang D, Li Y.Delineating the Dimensions of Social Support on Social Networking Sites and Their Effects: A Comparative Model[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2016, 58: 421-430.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.01.017
[38]
Liang T P, Ho Y T, Li Y W, et al.What Drives Social Commerce: The Role of Social Support and Relationship Quality[J]. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 2011, 16(2): 69-90.
doi: 10.2753/JEC1086-4415160204
[39]
Huang Q, Davison R M, Gu J.Impact of Personal and Cultural Factors on Knowledge Sharing in China[J]. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 2008, 25(3): 451-471.
doi: 10.1007/s10490-008-9095-2
[40]
Sangwan S.Virtual Community Success: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective[C]//Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE, 2005.
[41]
Lee M R, Yen D C, Hsiao C Y.Understanding the Perceived Community Value of Facebook Users[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2014, 35(2): 350-358.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.018
[42]
Zhang C B, Li Y N, Wu B, et al.How WeChat Can Retain Users: Roles of Network Externalities, Social Interaction Ties, and Perceived Values in Building Continuance Intention[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2017, 69: 284-293.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.069
[43]
Lin K Y, Lu H P.Why People Use Social Networking Sites: An Empirical Study Integrating Network Externalities and Motivation Theory[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2011, 27(3): 1152-1161.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.12.009
[44]
Chen G L, Yang S C, Tang S M.Sense of Virtual Community and Knowledge Contribution in a P3 Virtual Community: Motivation and Experience[J]. Internet Research, 2013, 23(1): 4-26.
doi: 10.1108/10662241311295755
[45]
Ifinedo P.Applying Uses and Gratifications Theory and Social Influence Processes to Understand Students’ Pervasive Adoption of Social Networking Sites:Perspectives from the Americas[J]. International Journal of Information Management, 2016, 36: 192-206.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.11.007
[46]
Chang S E, Shen W C, Liu A Y.Why Mobile Users Trust Smartphone Social Networking Services? A PLS-SEM Approach[J]. Journal of Business Research, 2016, 69(11): 4890-4895.
doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.048
[47]
Mohammad M.The Effects of Utilitarian and Hedonic Online Shopping Value on Consumer Perceived Value[D]. Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, 2016.
[48]
Kim H W, Chan H C, Gupta S.Value-based Adoption of Mobile Internet: An Empirical Investigation[J]. Decision Support Systems, 2007, 43(1): 111-126.
doi: 10.1016/j.dss.2005.05.009
[49]
Perugini M, Gallucci M, Presaghi F, et al.The Personal Norm of Reciprocity[J]. European Journal of Personality, 2003, 17(4): 251-283.
doi: 10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0984
[50]
Wasko M M L, Faraj S. Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice[J]. MIS Quarterly, 2005, 29(1): 35-57.
doi: 10.2307/25148667
[51]
Chai S, Das S, Rao H R.Factors Affecting Bloggers’ Knowledge Sharing: An Investigation Across Gender[J]. Journal of Management Information Systems, 2011, 28(3): 309-342.
doi: 10.2753/MIS0742-1222280309
[52]
Umphress E E, Bingham J B, Mitchell M S.Unethical Behavior in the Name of the Company: The Moderating Effect of Organizational Identification and Positive Reciprocity Beliefs on Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010, 95(4): 769.
doi: 10.1037/a0019214
[53]
Eisenberger R, Lynch P, Aselage J, et al.Who Takes the Most Revenge? Individual Differences in Negative Reciprocity Norm Endorsement[J]. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2004, 30(6): 787-799.
doi: 10.1177/0146167204264047
pmid: 15155041
[54]
Lin C P.To Share or Not to Share: Modeling Knowledge Sharing Using Exchange Ideology as a Moderator[J]. Personnel Review, 2007, 36(3): 457-475.
doi: 10.1108/00483480710731374
[55]
Zhang X, Chen Z, Vogel D, et al.Exchange Ideology as a Moderator of Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Teams: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective[J]. International Journal of Internet and Enterprise management, 2009, 6(2): 143-163.
doi: 10.1504/IJIEM.2009.023927
[56]
Chai S, Kim M.What Makes Bloggers Share Knowledge? An Investigation on the Role of Trust[J]. International Journal of Information Management, 2010, 30(5): 408-415.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.02.005
[57]
Fang Y H, Chiu C M.In Justice We Trust: Exploring Knowledge-Sharing Continuance Intentions in Virtual Communities of Practice[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2010, 26(2): 235-246.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2009.09.005
[58]
Lin C P.To Share or Not to Share: Modeling Tacit Knowledge Sharing, Its Mediators and Antecedents[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2007, 70(4): 411-428.
doi: 10.1007/s10551-006-9119-0
[59]
Park J G, Lee J.Knowledge Sharing in Information Systems Development Projects: Explicating the Role of Dependence and Trust[J]. International Journal of Project Management, 2014, 32(1): 153-165.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.02.004
[60]
Lin M J J, Hung S W, Chen C J. Fostering the Determinants of Knowledge Sharing in Professional Virtual Communities[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2009, 25(4): 929-939.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2009.03.008
[61]
Lu Y, Zhao L, Wang B.From Virtual Community Members to C2C E-Commerce Buyers: Trust in Virtual Communities and Its Effect on Consumers’ Purchase Intention[J]. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 2010, 9(4): 346-360.
doi: 10.1016/j.elerap.2009.07.003
[62]
Shiau W L, Luo M M.Factors Affecting Online Group Buying Intention and Satisfaction: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective[J]. Computers in Human Behavior, 2012, 28(6): 2431-2444.
doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.030
[63]
Dan J K, Ferrin D L, Rao H R.A Trust-based Consumer Decision-making Model in Electronic Commerce: The Role of Trust, Perceived risk, and Their Antecedents[J]. Decision Support Systems, 2008, 44(2): 544-564.
doi: 10.1016/j.dss.2007.07.001
[64]
Ganguly B, Dash S B, Cyr D, et al.The Effects of Website Design on Purchase Intention in Online Shopping: The Mediating Role of Trust and the Moderating Role of Culture[J]. International Journal of Electronic Business, 2010, 8(4): 302-330.
doi: 10.1504/IJEB.2010.035289
[65]
Chang H H, Wong K H.Adoption of E-Procurement and Participation of E-Marketplace on Firm Performance: Trust as a Moderator[J]. Information & Management, 2010, 47(5): 262-270.
[66]
Lee M, Cunningham L F.A Cost/Benefit Approach to Understanding Service Loyalty[J]. Journal of Services Marketing, 2001, 15(2): 113-130.
doi: 10.1108/08876040110387917
[67]
Nov O, Naaman M, Ye C.Analysis of Participation in an Online Photo‐Sharing Community: A Multidimensional Perspective[J]. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2010, 61(3): 555-566.
[68]
Ringle C M, Sarstedt M, Straub D W. Editor’s Comments: A Critical Look at the Use of PLS-SEM in “MIS Quarterly”[J]. MIS Quarterly, 2012, 36(1): iii-xiv.
doi: 10.1089/thy.1990.1.65.
[69]
Wetzels M, Odekerken-Schröder G, Van Oppen C.Using PLS Path Modeling for Assessing Hierarchical Construct Models: Guidelines and Empirical Illustration[J]. MIS Quarterly, 2009, 33(1): 177-195.
doi: 10.2307/20650284
[70]
Bagozzi R, Yi Y.On the Evaluation of Structural Equation Models[J]. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1998, 16(1): 74-94.
doi: 10.1007/BF02723327
[71]
Diamantopoulos A, Winklhofer H M.Index Construction with Formative Indicators: An Alternative to Scale Development[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2001, 38(2): 269-277.
doi: 10.1509/jmkr.38.2.269.18845
[72]
Fornell C, Larcker D F.Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 1981, 18(1): 39-50.
doi: 10.2307/3151312
[73]
Podsakoff P M, Mackenzie S B, Lee J Y, et al.Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2003, 88(5): 879-903.
doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
[74]
Jaccard J, Wan C K, Turrisi R.The Detection and Interpretation of Interaction Effects Between Continuous Variables in Multiple Regression[J]. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1990, 25(4): 467-478.
doi: 10.1207/s15327906mbr2504_4
(Zhao Yuxiang, Zhu Qinghua.Exploring the Moderating Effects of Perceived Affordance at Social Media Post-adoption Stage[J]. Journal of the China Society for Scientific and Technical Information, 2013, 32(10): 1099-1111.)
doi: 10.3772/j.issn.1000-0135.2013.10.009
