Abstract
This study focuses on an understudied topic: What are the factors influencing individual intention to share their information (e.g., news) rating with others in an online community? Drawing on social foraging theory, particularly on ant information sharing behavior, we proposed that information rating intention is affected by four factors: altruistic motives, identification with the community, information quality, and knowledge self-efficacy. The model was tested in the context of news communities, using survey data from 150 subjects. Altruistic motives were found to predict intention for both positive rating and negative rating. In addition, higher positive rating intention was predicted by stronger identification with the community, while higher negative rating intention was predicted by lower information quality and higher knowledge self-efficacy. The findings advance our knowledge about information rating, and provide implications for practitioners of rating systems. The adaptation of foraging theories for information systems research is a promising future research area.
Recommended Citation
Xu, Lingling and Lim, Jane Hwee Ling, "Understanding Information Rating Intention Based on Ant Foraging Behavior" (2010). SIGHCI 2010 Proceedings. 21.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/sighci2010/21