Intentional Communication Breakdowns in Virtual Communities of Interest: A Hindrance to End-User Knowledge Management

摘要

Virtual communities of interest offer their participants the opportunity to exchange knowledge and information as well as to engage in social exchange. Yet not all these exchanges are helpful to the community. In fact, some are intentionally manipulated by their originators to result in a communication breakdown. This study explores the existence of such communication breakdowns, their underlying pattern, and their effect on knowledge and information sharing, using transactional analysis.