Factors that Promote Knowledge Sharing on Academic Social Networking Sites: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Studies into Knowledge Sharing continues to attract attention. This is because it has been identified as an effective learning and researching approach. Perhaps this is due to the proliferation and enhanced interaction of modern social networks. Although previous literature argues for a relationship between the use of Social Networking Sites, Engagement and Knowledge Sharing, some recent studies disagree. This paper, therefore, seeks to validate the relationship between the use of social networking sites, academic Engagement and Knowledge Sharing using websites solely designed for academic activities. A modified version of the Social Capital Theory was used to design a questionnaire and data was collected from 336 participants and analyzed. The findings provided evidence that Academic Social Networking Sites support all the indicators of the Social Capital dimensions: Social Interaction Ties, Trust, Reciprocity, Identification, Shared Language and Shared Vision. However, Identification was the only significant predictor of Engagement, whereas Engagement supported Knowledge Sharing. Considering that studies on generic SNS have found significant relationship between other Social Capital dimensions and Engagement, future work needs to focus on the causation of the non-significant relationship observed in this study.