Fostering Knowledge Exchange in Digital Communities: Psychological Determinants of Sharing in Q&A Platforms

Although social Q&A communities flourish due to the exchange of knowledge, their sustainability is jeopardized by an increasing disparity between those seeking and providing knowledge. To address this crucial matter, this study explores the factors that drive knowledge-sharing within these communities. Utilizing social exchange theory, social information processing theory, and social cognition theory, we construct a comprehensive theoretical framework that includes seven essential variables: trust, reciprocity, altruism, rewards, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and psychological safety. It is hypothesized that self-efficacy and outcome expectations play a mediating role in the relationships between other variables and knowledge-sharing. Additionally, psychological safety is suggested to moderate these mediating effects. In order to empirically evaluate the model, we create a specialized measurement tool that evaluates knowledge-sharing behavior. We then administer a survey to users of the Zhihu Q&A platform. Upon gathering and scrutinizing 495 legitimate responses, we substantiate the model’s dependability and authenticity via statistical examinations. The results of the structural equation modeling indicate that trust, rewards, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations significantly impact knowledge-sharing, as hypothesized. The study also reveals that trust and altruism indirectly impact knowledge-sharing by influencing self-efficacy, while trust, reciprocity, and rewards influence knowledge-sharing through outcome expectations. Moreover, psychological safety plays a moderating role in the connections between self-efficacy and knowledge-sharing, as well as between outcome expectations and knowledge-sharing.