Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Online User Communities: One-Way or Two-Way Relationship?

Abstract

Firms have been increasingly relying on online user communities to access external, distant knowledge and expertise. Previous research on online user communities has largely investigated the influence of users’ social capital on their knowledge sharing behavior. In this study, we propose a two-way relationship between social capital and knowledge contribution of users in online user communities. To test our proposition, we collected and analyzed participation data of 1,766 users from the online user community of BMC, a global leader in innovative software solutions. Overall, our study shows evidence of significant bi-directional relationships between social capital (structural, cognitive and relational) and knowledge contribution, while the bi-directional relationships mainly exist among peripheral participants. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study for the online user community literature as well as the broader context of online community.