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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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H9: Relational social capital positively affects individuals’ knowledge sharing behavior
in SNSs.
2.5.2 Influence of Psychological Safety on Knowledge Sharing Behavior
As mentioned previously, psychological safety can help strengthen employees’ level of
personal engagement at work (Kahn, 1990; May, Gilson, and Harter, 2004) and augment
self-expressive behavior (Kahn, 1990). Detert and Burris (2007) report a positive impact of
psychological safety on individuals’ improvement-oriented speaking behavior. Regarding
organizational levels, Wittenbaum and Stasser (1996) propose that psychological safety is an
important driver of learning behavior, such as knowledge sharing among employees, which
is more likely to be successful in environments perceived as psychologically safe
(Edmondson, 1999; Gibson and Vermeulen, 2003; Lapré and Tsikriktsis, 2006; Tucker, 2007;
Zellmer-Bruhn and Gibson, 2006). Deming (1986) advocates removing any fear of
retribution from employees’ minds so that they can fearlessly participate in quality
improvement initiatives. In general, a lack of psychological safety in interpersonal
relationships usually constitutes a barrier to knowledge sharing. Regarding psychological
safety in virtual communities, Zhang et al. (2010) suggest that it has a positive effect on
members’ intentions to continue sharing knowledge. This line of logical reasoning also
applies to SNSs. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:
H10: Psychological safety positively affects individuals’ knowledge sharing behavior on
SNSs.
2.5.3 Influence of Self-Efficacy on Knowledge Sharing Behavior
Self-efficacy can enhance individuals’ performance attainment. In the context of
knowledge management, Kankanhalli, Tan, and Wei (2005) suggest that individuals’
judgment of their abilities that contribute to organizational performance constitutes a self-
motivating source of knowledge sharing. Perceived self-efficacy is critical in fostering
cooperation among group members and thus increasing the benefits of knowledge sharing
(Cabrera and Cabrera, 2002; Hsu et al., 2007; Lu et al., 2006). Moreover, Cabrera et al.
(2006), Hsu et al. (2007), and Kuo and Young (2008) all contend that individuals’ perceived
knowledge sharing self-efficacy can significantly influence their intention to share
knowledge as well as the level of engagement in knowledge sharing activities. Therefore,
knowledge sharing self-efficacy can enhance individuals’ knowledge sharing motivation and
behavior.