KNOWING YOUR ROLE: THE EFFECT OF REPUTATION SIGNALS ON PARTICIPATION INTENTIONS IN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY

摘要

Study la shows that high role clarity labels generate greater participation intentions than low role clarity points. Feelings of connectedness to the community drive the impact of the role clarity of the reputation signal on participation intentions. Study lb offers additional support for the importance of role clarity by demonstrating that providing additional information for a low role clarity label can increase participation intentions. Study 2 finds that the user's existing level of involvement with the community impacts preference for high role clarity signals over low role clarity signals, such that less involved users are motivated by high role clarity labels but existing, long-term users are motivated by either type of reputation signal. Studies 3 and 4 examine community features, such as the community's endurance (high vs. low) and the degree of virtuality of the community (online vs. in-person), that influence the positive effect of high role clarity reputation signals on participation intentions. Study 3 demonstrates that low community endurance attenuates the effect, while Study 4 confirms that face-to-face interaction mitigates the positive advantage of high role clarity reputation signals.