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Abstract:
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Understanding participation behavior in online communities has become increasingly of interest to IS scholars . A central puzzle related to the existence and development of virtual communities is why community members are willing to share their valuable knowledge with other members for free . In other words , what are the factors influencing members’ decisions to participate in discussions ? This dissertation theoretically articulates how habit will affect individuals’ participation behavior in online communities . In addition , it proposes that a threshold of behavioral repetitions is required for individuals to develop a participation habit . A methodology of estimating the threshold is also developed . The proposed habit hypothesis is tested empirically using panel data reflecting 130 ,882 postings by 22 ,457 members over a 6 -month time period . The empirical context is a firm -hosted online community , Dell Community . It includes 115 discussion boards . The results show that a threshold does exist for the formation of a participation habit . Once the habit is formed , it has significantly positive impacts on community members’ participation behavior . In larger and more active online communities , community members demonstrate a stronger habit effect . The effects of habit are also stronger among highly -ranked community members than among low -ranked community members . In addition , the results show that posting behavior in the more distant past has less impact on current posting decisions . This research extends the existing literature on online communities by considering the effects of a new factor , habit . It also deepens the current understanding of habit formation by articulating the role of a threshold on habit formation . |