Acta Informatica Pragensia 2020, 9(1), 4-17 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aip.1283231

Factors Influencing Researcher Cooperation in Virtual Academic Communities Based on Principal Component Analysis

Jiangang Pang ORCID...1,2, Jan Capek2
1 School of Economics and Management, Southwest University of Science and Technology, 59 Qinglong Ave Middle Section, Fucheng District, Mianyang, Sichuan, People's Republic of China
2 Institute of System Engineering and Informatics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Pardubice, Studentská 84, Pardubice 2, Czech Republic

As a professional virtual community, the virtual academic community meets the new needs of scholars for academic cooperation in the network environment. It provides a more convenient way for scientific research cooperation. The purpose of this paper is to combine the factors influencing researcher cooperation in virtual academic communities and to verify and improve the index system of the factors influencing researcher cooperation in virtual academic communities with data support. Data for the research was obtained in an online questionnaire survey wjx.cn from forum muchong.com, which is the largest virtual academic community in China. Using principal component analysis method provides an in-depth data analysis of individual factors. The SPSS 20 was used to conduct a preliminary descriptive statistical analysis of the questionnaires. The results obtained show that community trust plays the most important role in the collaboration of researchers in virtual academic communities and that group interaction factors and individual factors also affect the cooperation of researchers in virtual academic communities. The conclusion suggests that the virtual academic communities need to establish and improve management norms and trust mechanisms, and also need to refine and improve the forum section and community incentives.

Keywords: Virtual Academic Community, Research Cooperation, Community Trust, Group Interaction Factors, Individual Factors, Principal Component Analysis

Received: January 1, 2020; Revised: February 20, 2020; Accepted: February 22, 2020; Prepublished online: February 22, 2020; Published: July 29, 2020  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Pang, J., & Capek, J. (2020). Factors Influencing Researcher Cooperation in Virtual Academic Communities Based on Principal Component Analysis. Acta Informatica Pragensia9(1), 4-17. doi: 10.18267/j.aip.128
Download citation

References

  1. Abfalter, D., Zaglia, M. E., & Mueller, J. (2012). Sense of virtual community: A follow up on its measurement. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2), 400-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.010 Go to original source...
  2. Blanchard, A. L. (2008). Testing a model of sense of virtual community. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 2017-2123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2007.10.002 Go to original source...
  3. Chai, S., & Kim, M. (2010). What makes bloggers share knowledge? An investigation on the role of trust. International Journal of Information Management, 30(5), 408-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.02.005 Go to original source...
  4. Chiu, C., Huang, H., Cheng, H., & Hsu, J. (2019). Driving individuals' citizenship behaviors in virtual communities through attachment. Internet Research, 29(4), 870-899. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-07-2017-0284 Go to original source...
  5. Chiu, C., Fu, C., Lin, W., & Chen, C. (2017). The central roles of embeddedness and engagement in virtual communities. Online Information Review, 43(4), 531-550. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-10-2017-0304 Go to original source...
  6. Crang, M., & Mohamed, S. H. B. (2016). Researching virtual communities. In N. Clifford, M. Cope, T. Gillespie, & S. French (Eds.), Key methods in geography (pp. 270-284). Sage.
  7. Fadel, K. J., & Durcikova, A. (2014). If it's fair, I'll share: The effect of perceived knowledge validation justice on contributions to an organizational knowledge repository. Information & Management, 51(5), 511-519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2014.03.008 Go to original source...
  8. González-Anta, B., Orengo, V., Zornoza, A., Peñarroja, V., & Martínez-Tur, V. (2019). Understanding the Sense of Community and Continuance Intention in Virtual Communities: The Role of Commitment and Type of Community. Social Science Computer Review, (in press), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439319859590 Go to original source...
  9. Hayes, A. F., & Montoya, A. K. (2017). A tutorial on testing, visualizing, and probing an interaction involving a multicategorical variable in linear regression analysis. Communication Methods and Measures, 11(1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2016.1271116 Go to original source...
  10. Hsu, M-H., Ju, T. L. Yen, C-H., & Chang, C-M. (2006). Knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities: The relationship between trust, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 65(2), 153-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.09.003 Go to original source...
  11. Laux, D., Luse, A., & Mennecke, B. E. (2016). Collaboration, connectedness, and community: An examination of the factors influencing student persistence in virtual communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 452-464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.046 Go to original source...
  12. Lai, H. M., Huang, Y. W., & Hung, S.Y. (2018). A Meta-analysis of Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities: The Moderating Effect of Membership Types. In L. Uden, B. Hadzima, I. H. Ting (Eds.), Knowledge Management in Organizations (pp. 83-93). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95204-8_8 Go to original source...
  13. Li, W. (2015). Research on the Measurement of Knowledge Exchange Efficiency in Academic Virtual Community. Journal of Intelligence, 34, 170-173.
  14. Mamonov, S., Koufaris, M., & Benbunan-Fich, R. (2016). The role of the sense of community in the sustainability of social network sites. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 20(4), 470-498. https://doi.org/10.1080/10864415.2016.1171974 Go to original source...
  15. McLoughlin, C., Patel, K. D., O'Callaghan, T., & Reeves, S. (2018). The use of virtual communities of practice to improve interprofessional collaboration and education: findings from an integrated review. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 32(2), 136-142, https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2017.1377692 Go to original source...
  16. Peñarroja, V., Sánchez, J., Gamero, N., Orengo, V. & Zornoza, A. M. (2019). The influence of organizational facilitating conditions and technology acceptance factors on the effectiveness of virtual communities of practice. Behavior & Information Technology, 38(8), 845-857. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2018.1564070 Go to original source...
  17. Wasko, M. L., & Faraj, S. (2005). Why Should I Share Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice. MIS Quarterly, 29(1), 35-57. Go to original source...
  18. Wu, J., & Pang, J. (2017). Evaluation of Knowledge Exchange Efficiency of Virtual Academic Community Based on SBM Model. Information Science, 5, 125-130
  19. Xu, M., & Ye J. (2011). Research on Influencing Factors of Knowledge Sharing Behavior in Academic Virtual Community. Journal of Information Theory and Practice, 34(11), 72-77.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.