Title: Social software characteristics and the impacts on students' knowledge sharing behaviour

Authors: Yossawadee Kaeomanee; P.D.D. Dominic; Riaza Mohd Rias

Addresses: Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia ' Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia ' Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Mara 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: The development of Web 2.0 technologies has led to the growth of social software tools. These tools have brought a tremendous change in the way students of this generation interact and share information and knowledge. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationships between the prominent social software characteristics (i.e., informal setting, communication, network and community, and user generated content) and the students' knowledge sharing behaviour in Malaysian university context. A total of 322 students from five universities participated in the survey study. Through the analysis, the findings revealed that the four characteristics positively influenced knowledge sharing behaviour of the students. Moreover, the combination of these characteristics can be a good predictor of the students' knowledge sharing behaviour through social software tools.

Keywords: knowledge sharing; social software; Web 2.0; communication; knowledge sharing; student behaviour; Malaysia; university students; higher education; social networking sites; SNS; content sharing communities; blogs; wikis; social media.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2015.067914

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2015 Vol.9 No.2, pp.163 - 187

Published online: 15 Apr 2015 *

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