IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jinfst/v67y2016i5p1182-1197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

User motivations for asking questions in online Q&A services

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Choi
  • Chirag Shah

Abstract

Online Q&A services are information sources where people identify their information need, formulate the need in natural language, and interact with one another to satisfy their needs. Even though in recent years online Q&A has considerably grown in popularity and impacted information‐seeking behaviors, we still lack knowledge about what motivates people to ask a question in online Q&A environments. Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers were selected as the test beds in the study, and a sequential mixed method employing an Internet‐based survey, a diary method, and interviews was used to investigate user motivations for asking a question in online Q&A services. Cognitive needs were found as the most significant motivation, driving people to ask a question. Yet, it was found that other motivational factors (e.g., tension free needs) also played an important role in user motivations for asking a question, depending on asker's contexts and situations. Understanding motivations for asking a question could provide a general framework of conceptualizing different contexts and situations of information needs in online Q&A. The findings have several implications not only for developing better question‐answering processes in online Q&A environments, but also for gaining insights into the broader understanding of online information‐seeking behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Choi & Chirag Shah, 2016. "User motivations for asking questions in online Q&A services," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(5), pages 1182-1197, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:67:y:2016:i:5:p:1182-1197
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.23490
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23490
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/asi.23490?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sanghee Oh, 2012. "The characteristics and motivations of health answerers for sharing information, knowledge, and experiences in online environments," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(3), pages 543-557, March.
    2. Chirag Shah & Vanessa Kitzie, 2012. "Social Q&A and virtual reference—comparing apples and oranges with the help of experts and users," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(10), pages 2020-2036, October.
    3. Chirag Shah & Vanessa Kitzie, 2012. "Social Q&A and virtual reference—comparing apples and oranges with the help of experts and users," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(10), pages 2020-2036, October.
    4. Carol C. Kuhlthau, 1991. "Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 42(5), pages 361-371, June.
    5. Sanghee Oh, 2012. "The characteristics and motivations of health answerers for sharing information, knowledge, and experiences in online environments," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(3), pages 543-557, March.
    6. Piritta Numminen & Pertti Vakkari, 2009. "Question types in public libraries' digital reference service in Finland: Comparing 1999 and 2006," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 60(6), pages 1249-1257, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Minhyung Kang, 2022. "Motivational affordances and survival of new askers on social Q&A sites: The case of Stack Exchange network," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(1), pages 90-103, January.
    2. Lei Li & Xue Song & Shujun Liu & Kun Huang, 2021. "Defining High-Quality Answers on a Chinese Tourism Q&A Platform in Terms of Information Needs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Leila Tavakoli & Hamed Zamani & Falk Scholer & William Bruce Croft & Mark Sanderson, 2022. "Analyzing clarification in asynchronous information‐seeking conversations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(3), pages 449-471, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adam Worrall & Alicia Cappello & Rachel Osolen, 2021. "The importance of socio‐emotional considerations in online communities, social informatics, and information science," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(10), pages 1247-1260, October.
    2. Zhizhen Yao & Zhenni Ni & Bin Zhang & Jian Du, 2022. "Do Informational and Emotional Elements Differ between Online Psychological and Physiological Disease Communities in China? A Comparative Study of Depression and Diabetes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Ni Huang & Zhijun Yan & Haonan Yin, 2021. "Effects of Online–Offline Service Integration on e‐Healthcare Providers: A Quasi‐Natural Experiment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(8), pages 2359-2378, August.
    4. Jiabei Xia & Tailai Wu & Liqin Zhou, 2021. "Sharing of Verified Information about COVID-19 on Social Network Sites: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    5. Jiaqi Liu & Zhenping Zhang & Jiayin Qi & Hong Wu & Manyi Chen, 2019. "Understanding the Impact of Opinion Leaders’ Characteristics on Online Group Knowledge-Sharing Engagement from In-Group and Out-Group Perspectives: Evidence from a Chinese Online Knowledge-Sharing Com," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-28, August.
    6. Weiwei Yan & Xin Wen & Yin Zhang & Sonali Kudva & Qian Liu, 2023. "The dynamics of Q&A in academic social networking sites: insights from participants, interaction network, response time, and discipline differences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1895-1922, March.
    7. Kordzadeh, Nima & Warren, John & Seifi, Ali, 2016. "Antecedents of privacy calculus components in virtual health communities," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 724-734.
    8. Arun Kumar & Mrinalini Pandey, 2023. "Social Media and Impact of Altruistic Motivation, Egoistic Motivation, Subjective Norms, and EWOM toward Green Consumption Behavior: An Empirical Investigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, February.
    9. Regina Lenart-Gansiniec, 2017. "Virtual Knowledge Sharing in Crowdsourcing: Measurement Dilemmas," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 13(3), pages 95-123.
    10. Junghwa Bahng & Chang Heon Lee, 2020. "Topic Modeling for Analyzing Patients’ Perceptions and Concerns of Hearing Loss on Social Q&A Sites: Incorporating Patients’ Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-14, August.
    11. Yeganeh Charband & Nima Jafari Navimipour, 2016. "Online knowledge sharing mechanisms: a systematic review of the state of the art literature and recommendations for future research," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1131-1151, December.
    12. Luo, Chuan & Lan, Yao & (Robert) Luo, Xin & Li, Han, 2021. "The effect of commitment on knowledge sharing: An empirical study of virtual communities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    13. Tseng, Hsiao-Ting & Ibrahim, Fahad & Hajli, Nick & Nisar, Tahir M. & Shabbir, Haseeb, 2022. "Effect of privacy concerns and engagement on social support behaviour in online health community platforms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    14. Qian Wu & Chei Sian Lee & Dion Hoe‐Lian Goh, 2023. "Understanding user‐generated questions in social Q&A: A goal‐framing approach," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(8), pages 990-1009, August.
    15. Wenlong Liu & Xiucheng Fan & Rongrong Ji & Yi Jiang, 2019. "Perceived Community Support, Users’ Interactions, and Value Co-Creation in Online Health Community: The Moderating Effect of Social Exclusion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Kevin Wong & Geoff Walton & Gavin Bailey, 2021. "Using information science to enhance educational preventing violent extremism programs," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(3), pages 362-376, March.
    17. Zhang, Yin & Lu, Baozhou & Zheng, Haidong, 2020. "Can buzzing bring business? Social interactions, network centrality and sales performance: An empirical study on business-to-business communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 170-189.
    18. Fereshteh Ghahramani & Jingguo Wang, 2020. "Impact of Smartphones on Quality of Life: A Health Information Behavior Perspective," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 1275-1290, December.
    19. Jan M. Gutteling & Peter W. de Vries, 2017. "Determinants of Seeking and Avoiding Risk‐Related Information in Times of Crisis," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 27-39, January.
    20. Persson, Olle, 2010. "Identifying research themes with weighted direct citation links," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 415-422.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:67:y:2016:i:5:p:1182-1197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.asis.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.