User Virtual Community: A New Frontier in Knowledge Sharing and Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Abstract

As a cutting-edge field of knowledge sharing, user virtual communities are of great significance for understanding users' motivation for knowledge sharing in the community. This review article aims to analyze and model the mechanism of knowledge sharing motivation process in user virtual communities by applying the user entrepreneurship and MOA model (motivation, opportunity and ability), in order to reveal the trend of research about knowledge sharing in the user virtual community and the motivations behind user entrepreneurship decision-making in this environment. Through descriptive literature review, we first found that the research trends of knowledge sharing in user virtual communities include: knowledge sharing behavior and motivation direction, social networks and knowledge flow, knowledge quality and evaluation, community culture and knowledge sharing, etc. Second, we propose a theoretical framework to explain the mechanism of sustainable user entrepreneurship on knowledge sharing. In summary, this review provides in-depth theoretical analysis and modeling of knowledge sharing motivations in user virtual communities, providing important reference and guidance for researchers and practitioners, and also providing ideas and foundations for further exploring the mechanisms and influencing factors of knowledge sharing behavior in user virtual communities in the future.