How do people search for knowledge? Ask-directed searching and browsing strategies in professional virtual communities
Abstract
Purpose
Seekers who visit professional virtual communities (PVCs) are usually motivated by knowledge-seeking, which is a complex cognitive process. How do seekers search for knowledge, and how is their search linked to prior knowledge or PVC situation factors? From the cognitive process and interactional psychology perspectives, this study investigated the three-way interactions between seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and perceptions of PVC features (i.e. knowledge quality and system quality) on knowledge-seeking strategies and resultant outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A field experiment was conducted with 119 seekers in a PVC using a 2 × 2 factorial design of seekers’ expertise (i.e. expert versus novice) and task complexity (i.e. low versus high).
Findings
The study reveals three significant insights: (1) For a high-complexity task, experts adopt an ask-directed searching strategy compared to novices, whereas novices adopt a browsing strategy; (2) For a high-complexity task, experts who perceive a high system quality are more likely than novices to adopt an ask-directed searching strategy; and (3) Task completion time and task quality are associated with the adoption of ask-directed searching strategies, whereas knowledge seekers’ satisfaction is more associated with the adoption of browsing strategy.
Originality/value
We draw on the perspectives of cognitive process and interactional psychology to explore potential two- and three-way interactions of seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and PVC features on the adoption of knowledge-seeking strategies in a PVC context. Our findings provide deep insights into seekers’ behavior in a PVC, given the popularity of the search for knowledge in PVCs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper, entitled “Influence of user expertise, task complexity and knowledge management support on knowledge seeking strategy and task performance,” was presented at PACIS 2012. We deeply appreciate the insightful suggestions and feedback we received from the reviewers of the paper as well as the conference attendees.
Citation
Lai, H.-M., Hung, S.-Y. and Yen, D.C. (2024), "How do people search for knowledge? Ask-directed searching and browsing strategies in professional virtual communities", Information Technology & People, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-02-2023-0190
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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