A research on the influences of personal characteristics on network community´s knowledge sharing and creating

The emergence of Web 2.0 changed the way people use the Internet. Network communities enabled people to not only provide and absorb information but also share and create information. Among the various kind of network communities, online forums are the ones in which information exchange takes place most frequently. The participation of forum members differs from forum to forum. According to past literature, personal features and characteristics play a major role when participating in online forums. Those who show a more stable personality (e.g., agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, or openness to experience) are more willing to participate in group activities. Hence, this research utilizes the Nonaka and Konno (1998) proposal of Knowledge Spiral (SECI) and an environment of space that can enhance information exchange (ba), such as online forums, to explore how forum members with different personal characteristics share and create knowledge. The research proved from past literature that people with a more stable personalities (i.e., conscientiousness > extraversion > agreeableness) are more willing to share knowledge. Moreover, this research found that different levels of stability found in different personalities present a significant difference in knowledge sharing behaviors (F = 4.775, p = 0.011) even though the results are not influenced by the inclusion of few unstable personality traits, such as neuroticism (F = 5.219, p = 0.007). Finally, a qualitative analysis regarding knowledge creation in forums proves that most forum members display highly stable personalities.