To share or not to share: the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations on knowledge-sharing in enterprise social media platforms

In order to foster knowledge-sharing among employees, an increasing number of companies has recently begun implementing social network-based enterprise social media platforms (ESMPs). Although employees are expected to adopt these platforms quickly and use them as actively as they use public and free social media, patterns of private and corporate usage differ. While some research on the determinants of using public and free social media like Facebook has been conducted, empirical studies on the factors determining active participation in ESMPs is scarce. Based on research derived from a survey of 492 respondents carried out in a large knowledge-intensive firm, this paper addresses this gap. The results of our empirical quantitative study reveal that extrinsic motivation in particular that is, anticipated gains in reputation and reciprocal benefits drives employees to share knowledge in ESMPs. Knowledge-sharing self-efficacy also facilitates participation, while the enjoyment in helping others does not. The study contributes to information systems and knowledge management research, as it reveals motivational factors that drive the individual adoption in terms of active use of ESMPs. Managerial implications are derived from these results.