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發言或緘默：心理安全與自我效能在社會資本影響社群網站使用者知識分享行為上所扮演的中介角色
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1. Introduction
The Internet has revolutionized individuals’ lives by increasing accessibility to
information, accelerating the transfer of information, and changing the way they
communicate with one another. It has even surpassed other forms of media and become the
mainstream medium for information exchange and social interaction. Knowledge and skills
are the fundamental sources of competitive advantage for organizations to succeed (Vargo
and Lusch, 2004), but for virtual communities, knowledge is mainly created by users through
their knowledge sharing behaviors (Lee, Vogel, and Limayem, 2003). Without the
availability of knowledge, people would be reluctant to participate in a virtual community
because it would not be able to fulfill their knowledge needs (Wasko and Faraj, 2000). Many
people now engage in social network sites (SNSs), posting messages, viewing friends’
statuses, reading posts, and so on. Posting on SNSs entails viewing, which in turn activates
posting, thus reinforcing each other. Therefore, knowledge sharing plays a salient role in the
growth of SNSs. Posting behavior, such as posting product experiences and opinions in text,
photo, audio, video, and link forms, is a form of knowledge sharing. This type of knowledge
sharing constitutes word of mouth (WOM) and has a significant impact on the viewer
because it comes from fellow consumers. People who share knowledge use SNSs not only to
“talk about” products but also to show how they have used the products.
Acknowledging people’s stickiness to and the influence on SNSs, increasingly more
companies have become interested in why people share knowledge and how to capitalize on
knowledge sharing for the benefit of their products. Unlike viewing or browsing, knowledge
sharing can be costly for individuals because it can put them at risk. Wasko and Faraj (2005)
argue that social capital, the main component of the SNSs, considerably influences
individuals’ knowledge sharing behavior. This article adopts Wasko and Faraj’s social capital
concepts as antecedents to set the stage for people’s subsequent knowledge sharing activities.
Many people turn to SNSs to disclose their life experiences and exchange information
with others. In addition to social capital, previous studies have explored other plausible
influences of people’s knowledge sharing behavior in organizations, such as psychological
safety (Kahn, 1990) and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1982). Psychological safety is a
psychological condition in which individuals feel safe in an interpersonal context and feel
confident that fellow members in the context will not embarrass or punish them when they
express themselves. In a knowledge sharing situation, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief
that what he or she shares with others is accurate, can assist others in solving problems, and