Start Date

16-8-2018 12:00 AM

Description

Virtual communities help organizations to develop innovative ideas. Active participation by members is key to sustainability of such communities. Members lurk by not contributing knowledge, although they remain as part of the community. This study employs cognitive and relational capital dimensions of social capital theory to discern lurking behavior in Dell’s ideastorm website. From the data collected on the website, we use ideators’ characteristics to reflect social capital, while lurking is measured by the number of days that an ideator has not contributed, posted comments, or voted on ideas on the website. We contribute to social capital theory development by applying it in the open innovation communities’ context, using observed data. Our findings have implications on virtual community managers who need to build social capital to prevent their community members from lurking.

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Aug 16th, 12:00 AM

Factors that Influence Lurking Behaviors in Open Innovation Communities: The Role of Social Capital

Virtual communities help organizations to develop innovative ideas. Active participation by members is key to sustainability of such communities. Members lurk by not contributing knowledge, although they remain as part of the community. This study employs cognitive and relational capital dimensions of social capital theory to discern lurking behavior in Dell’s ideastorm website. From the data collected on the website, we use ideators’ characteristics to reflect social capital, while lurking is measured by the number of days that an ideator has not contributed, posted comments, or voted on ideas on the website. We contribute to social capital theory development by applying it in the open innovation communities’ context, using observed data. Our findings have implications on virtual community managers who need to build social capital to prevent their community members from lurking.