A Study of Factors Resulting to Online Community Formation

摘要

Online communities exist in various forms in Internet like groups, forums, chat discussion boards etc. The advent ofsocial networking sites has brought an environment in which such communities can thrive. In this study, we study thefundamental motivation of a user to join an online community with the help of Technology Acceptance Model, flow theory,trust and social capital theory. The user beliefs and the factors affecting these beliefs are considered to arrive at a theormodel which helps in determining the intentiofrom joining online community resulting to online social capital. Our study reveals that perceived usefulness of an onlinecommunity is the most important factor affecting thecapital for an internet user.