Using Path Analysis to Explore Knowledge Sharing Behavior Factors on Twitter

摘要

Micro-blogging (MB) consists of broadcast messaging services permitting users to post messages with a length of 140-200 characters. MB usage offers the two significant characteristics demanded by users of social media, immediacy and interactivity, and is changing the way people record events by allowing them to employ brief text messages instead of lengthy blog entries. This study employed Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) as a basis for an investigation of factors influencing people's knowledge sharing motivation when they engage in MB activities. Users of the Twitter MB service were taken as the study's subjects. The results of the study showed that (1) informativeness and mobility are extrinsic motivations for the use of MB, (2) entertainment and sociability are intrinsic motivations for the use of MB, (3) informativeness, mobility, entertainment, and sociability factors will affect users' MB knowledge sharing behavior, entertainment is the critical factor that determines participation with this social media, and (4) the higher the satisfaction with MB use, the higher the usage.