Explaining Persistent Ineffectiveness in Professional Online Communities: Multilevel Tensions and Misguided Coping Strategies
Authors: Stein, Mari-Klara; Lim, Eric T.; Tan, Chee-Wee
Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems (2022)
DOI: 10.17705/1jais.00726
<jats:p>Online communities (OCs) have become an increasingly prevalent way for organizations to bring people together to collaborate and create value. However, despite the abundance of extant literature, many studies still point to the lack of long-term sustainability of OCs. We contend that communities become dormant or obsolete over time because of manifestations of ineffectiveness a state of the community that hinders the attainment of individual and collective desired outcomes. While ineffectiveness in OCs is common, it is less apparent why such ineffectiveness persists. Two knowledge gaps are particularly significant here. First, while the multilevel nature of OCs is acknowledged, corresponding difficulties in aligning individual and collective interests and behaviors have often been neglected in past studies. Second, rare longitudinal studies have revealed that community members respond to ineffectiveness with various coping behaviors. However, the impact of these coping behaviors may not turn out as desired. Consequently, we investigate the persistence of ineffectiveness from the perspective of multilevel and coping effects, addressing the following research question: How a…