Title: Explaining mobile community user participation from a social capital perspective

Authors: Tao Zhou, Yaobin Lu, Bin Wang, Kwok-Kee Wei

Addresses: School of Management, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China. ' School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China. ' College of Business Administration, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA. ' Department of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, PR China

Abstract: This research analyses factors affecting mobile community user participation from a social capital perspective. The six factors of social capital are categorised into three dimensions: the structural dimension, the cognitive dimension, and the relational dimension. User participation intention includes two variables: the intention to view and the intention to post. We collected 370 valid questionnaires and performed data analysis using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results showed that trust had the strongest effect on the intention to view, whereas identification with the community had the strongest effect on the intention to post. Thus, mobile community providers need to focus on the relational dimension of social capital in order to promote user participation in their communities.

Keywords: social capital; mobile communities; user participation; trust; identification; mobile communications; structural equation modelling; intention to view; intention to post.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2010.032975

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2010 Vol.8 No.3, pp.278 - 296

Published online: 05 May 2010 *

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