Current literature has identified key components and successful factors of online communities. However, research tends to study a specific type of community at a time. This study investigates users’ needs across different types of communities in order to gain a holistic view of users’ experiences. Moreover, how the nature and overall purpose of the online community influences users’ participation pattern has not been extensively studied. Hence, this study also attempts to understand how the nature of the community and the goals of the users influence their participation of online communities. Through twenty-four in-depth interviews, critical factors that influence users’ participation in online communities were identified.

Item Type:	Refereed Conference Paper
Keywords:	Virtual Community; Online Community; Computer-Mediated Communication; User Studies
Research Division:	Information and Computing Sciences
Research Group:	Information Systems
Research Field:	Computer-Human Interaction
Objective Division:	Information and Communication Services
Objective Group:	Computer Software and Services
Objective Field:	Application Tools and System Utilities
Author:	Duh, HBL (Professor Henry Duh)
ID Code:	90297
Year Published:	2009
Deposited By:	Information and Communication Technology
Deposited On:	2014-03-31
Last Modified:	2014-12-08
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