Dual roles of users in online brand community and knowledge sharing behavior: A simulation study

This paper aims to study knowledge sharing behavior in online brand community (OBC), considering the instantaneous change of consumers’ self-efficacy, knowledge and non-linear characteristic of sharing behavior. It also explores the influence of two external forces, namely, community growth and product innovation.

An objected model reflecting knowledge dynamics is developed to observe knowledge sharing performance in OBC, and then an agent-based simulation is used to run computational experiments on knowledge sharing difficulty, experience, product innovation and community growth to observe consumers’ knowledge sharing performance.

It is observed that the difficulty of successful knowledge sharing is indeed related to knowledge sharing performance. In addition, direct experience can enhance consumers’ self-efficacy that further urges consumer to share knowledge. Although product innovation causes a sudden decrease in knowledge sharing performance, it also arouses consumers’ desire for new knowledge which benefits consumers’ knowledge sharing. However, the disruption caused by product innovation eventually outweighs its benefit. Finally, a growing community is found to be bad for sharing knowledge. The slower the OBC grows, the better the knowledge sharing performs.

This study highlights the dynamic changes of knowledge sharing in OBC; particularly, the simulation model in this paper accounts for the direct and dynamic effects of several important factors on knowledge sharing performance amid interruption. The research results can provide decision support for firm managers.