Determinants of Sharing Information in User Communities

Abstract

Informal information trading is the exchange of know-how, data, and other information between employees working for different companies that is not formally regulated by explicit contractual agreements (von Hippel 1987; Schrader 1991, 1995). A major advantage of such informational exchanges is that firms can save on expenses by avoiding transaction costs related to formal contracts as well as costs incurred by “reinventing the wheel” themselves (Carter 1989). Furthermore, knowledge exchanges between firms can stimulate learning processes and contribute to firms’ innovativeness (Allen 1977). Besides these economic incentives to share information, Bouty (2000) suggests that individuals are often socially motivated to engage in information trading. This notion of the embeddedness of economic action was first introduced by Granovetter (1985), who postulates that economic behaviour is closely embedded in structures of social relations.