Examining Participation Willingness of Internet Community
Using Structure Equation Model
Chien-Hsing Wu
Department of Information Management/National University of Kaohsiung 700, Kaohsiung University Rd., Kaohsiung, 811 Taiwan
886-7-5919509; chwu@nuk.edu.tw
Tzai-Zang Lee, Ph.D
Department of Business Administration/Kun Shan University of Technology No.949, DaWan Road, YangKung, Tainan 701, Taiwan
leetz@mail.ksu.edu.tw
Shu-Chen Kao, Ph.D
Department of Business Administration/Kun Shan University of Technology No.949, DaWan Road, YangKung, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
kaosc@mail.ksu.edu.tw
Ming-Hsing Lee
Department of Industrial and Information Management National Cheng Kung University
Abstract
Rapid growth in the number of Virtual Internet Communities (VIC) over the Web cyberspace has brought together Internet users who have common interests, want to circulate and share information, wish to learn things, and desire to do business. In the process of socialization, participation willingness generally comes from user perceptions and social behavior, and it is therefore one of the most important issues for the VIC life cycle. Based on the perspectives of Taiwan’s Internet users, this paper presents an empirical investigation on VIC participation willingness by using structure equation model. Results were obtained showing that 1) users are more likely willing to have full freedom of using Internet; 2) social relationships showed no significance, mainly due to the effect of virtual trust on users’ behavior and unknown Internet social structure; and 3) communication tools did not indicate significance because they are a prerequisite for motivating user participation, rather than an significant factor to enable the VIC participation. Discussions and implications are also presented.
