Abstract:
[Purpose/significance] Considering the inconsistency among the existing empirical findings of influencing factors of knowledge sharing intensions and behavior in online community, the related empirical researched are reviewed and re-analyized.[Method/process] After collecting the related empirical researches, this meta-analysis method is used to identify the determinants of individuals knowledge sharing intentions and behaviors in online communities. Moreover, by means of heterogeneity test and group analysis, this paper also explores the moderating factors affecting the effectiveness of different factors on knowledge sharing behavior, which caused the inconsistency among them.[Result/conclusion] This study concluded that 10 and 14 variables identified in this paper positively contribute to knowledge sharing intentions and behavior, respectively. Among all these antecedents, altruism and attitude toward knowledge sharing are the two strongest factors influencing on the knowledge sharing intention. And outcome expectation, common language, subjective norm and identify have the strongest relationship with knowledge sharing behavior. It was indicated as well that community types and research contexts are identified as two moderators of knowledge sharing intention or behavior and its factors, which can partially explain the inconsistentcy problem. By combing and identifying the antecedents and their moderating factors of knowledge sharing intentions and behavior, this meta-analysis study can be a guidance for online community managers and provide a better theoretical basis for follow up researches in this field.