Examining the factors influencing students' knowledge-sharing behavior in the social media-based learning community

Abstract

Virtual learning communities can be formed through social media platforms, enabling the implementation of various learning activities. One of the essential components of virtual learning communities created on social media is the knowledge-sharing behaviors (KSB) of students. Studies show that some students actively participate in the knowledge-sharing processes, while some students do not actively participate in this process the observed phenomenon could potentially be attributed to the psycho-social condition of the students. The main goal of this research was to establish the factors related to the KSB of the students in the virtual learning community created in the social media environment. The research investigated the structural associations among KSB, need for social approval (NfSA), happiness, self-control and self-management (SC-SM), and dispositional hope (DH) structures. A total of 176 university students, engaged in the virtual learning community formed on social media, were included in the research. The research was implemented within the scope of Computing II course. Students used the virtual learning community created for the course during one academic semester and shared knowledge. In the study, relationships between structures were discovered by path analysis. Research results showed that the NfSA and DH were significantly related to KSB. According to the results, happiness and SC-SM did not significantly relate to KSB. It can be said that supporting students' social approval needs and increasing hope levels can be beneficial to improve students' KSB in virtual learning communities to be created in social media environments. According to another result of the study, it was observed that as the SC-SM levels of the students increased, their happiness and DH levels also increased. In line with the results obtained from the results, what can be done to improve the KSB of students in virtual learning communities was discussed, and various suggestions were made for researchers and practitioners.