Impact of Introversion-Extraversion Personality Traits on Knowledge-Sharing Intention in Online Health Communities: A Multi-Group Analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of introversion-extraversion personality traits on the knowledge-sharing intention of online health communities (OHCs) using personality trait theory and social capital theory. This study investigates two types of users in OHCs—doctors and patients—and compares and analyses the knowledge-sharing paths of these two types of users. The results show that extraversion personality, interaction, and reciprocity positively influence the physicians’ and patients’ knowledge-sharing intention; for both types of users, interaction partially mediates between extraversion personality and knowledge-sharing intention, and reciprocity partially mediates between interaction and knowledge-sharing intention. Comparative analyses show that the physicians’ introversion-extraversion personality traits have stronger positive effects on interaction, and interaction has stronger positive effects on trust and reciprocity than patients, the physicians’ trust and reciprocity have stronger positive effects on knowledge-sharing intention than patients, and the physicians’ introversion personality traits have stronger positive effects on knowledge-sharing intentions than patients. This study enriches the theory of user knowledge-sharing in OHCs while advancing the managers’ understanding of what motivates users’ knowledge-sharing intention.