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臺大管理論叢
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and the relational dimension of social capital represents the support for individuals. When
individuals stay in an environment with significant competence and support, they gain a high
level of knowledge sharing self-efficacy. This discussion leads to the following hypotheses:
H5: Cognitive social capital positively affects individuals’ knowledge sharing self-
efficacy in SNSs.
H6: Relational social capital positively affects individuals’ knowledge sharing self-
efficacy in SNSs.
2.5 Antecedents of Knowledge Sharing Behavior in SNSs
Previous studies have investigated the antecedents of knowledge sharing in
organizations and virtual communities. Some focus on inherent motivational factors (Wasko
and Faraj, 2005); others focus on interpersonal conditions, such as social capital (Chiu, Hsu,
and Wang, 2006; Wasko and Faraj, 2005), social cognition (Chiu et al., 2006; Hsu et al.,
2007), trust (Ridings, Gefen, and Arinze, 2002), satisfaction (Chen, 2007), and the social
network (Wasko, Faraj, and Teigland, 2004); and still others focus on individuals’ attachment
to collective actions (Cheung and Lee, 2007; Wasko and Faraj, 2005; Wasko et al., 2004).
Because SNSs mainly contain users and their colleagues, relatives, and friends, factors
affecting individuals’ knowledge sharing in organizations and virtual communities may also
affect their knowledge sharing in SNSs. The subsections that follow address three major
determinants of knowledge sharing behavior in SNSs: social capital (Nahapiet and Ghoshal,
1998), psychological safety (Kahn, 1990), and knowledge sharing self-efficacy (Bandura,
1982).
2.5.1 Influence of Social Capital on Knowledge Sharing Behavior
Structural social capital captures the connection (Scott, 1991; Wasserman and Faust,
1994) and configuration (Krackhardt, 1994) of a social system, and it provides the channel
through which individuals can send and receive knowledge. In addition, both the language/
code and the narratives of cognitive social capital can affect the fluency of knowledge
sharing among people. Finally, relational social capital is also instrumental in interpersonal
knowledge sharing. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses:
H7: Structural social capital positively affects individuals’ knowledge sharing behavior
in SNSs.
H8: Cognitive social capital positively affects individuals’ knowledge sharing behavior
in SNSs.