Why Do I Share? Participants’ Personality Traits and Online Participation

Abstract

Apart from the well-recognized popularity and importance of online question-and-answer (Q&A) communities, the sustainable growth of these platforms is a serious concern faced by online knowledge-sharing platforms. Personality traits play a significant role in shaping human behavior and decision-making. Numerous studies have attempted to understand the volunteer knowledge contribution and provide solutions to improve low participation. However, the role of personality traits of online knowledge-sharing community users in their volunteer knowledge contribution is still unexplored. Based on the big five personality traits, we have proposed a model to understand the role of personality features of online users. We have collected a cross-sectional dataset from online Q&A community users and applied the SEM-ANN model to conclude our model results that will provide insight into online community users’ contribution behavior. Findings show that agreeableness, openness, extrovert, and conscientiousness positively and neuroticism negatively influence online participation to contribute knowledge. We have also observed that the influence of personality traits significantly differs for both genders, and negativity bias is stronger in male users. Study results provide new insight into understanding online users’ behavior and provide a distinct angle to understand and add value to previous studies’ findings on online Q&A community users.