Knowledge contribution in Q&A communities can be conceptualized as the quantity of messages contributed to the overall site as well as how many of those contributions were factual/accurate and declarative.

Those who have high knowledge contribution, as seen by other participants in the community, are likely to also be viewed as a leader of the community.

New York University

These are behaviors that help identify who may be seen as a leader by consensus of the rest of the community.
- knowledge contribution
- sociability
- structured social capital

Predictors of an emergent leader in online Q&A communities

Faraj, S., Kudaravalli, S., & Wasko, M. (2015). Leading collaboration in online communities. MIS quarterly, 39(2), 393-412.

Leading collaboration in online communities

Knowledge Contribution Impact on Leadership Emergence in Online Q&A Communities

Sociability in Q&A communities is the amount of messages posted that correspond to some sort of social interactions such as a "hello/goodbye" "thank you", personal anecdotes, or personal reference to another participant when writing the message.

When someone is sociable, but not high in knowledge contribution or social capital, emergence as a leader is not significant. I.e, it is not a significant predictor of being recognized as a leader by the other participants of the community.

Sociability Impact on Leadership Emergence in Online Q&A Communities

Structured social capital in Q&A communities is the amount of potential knowledge or resources an individual has based on their connections with others within the community. In an online community, a structured social capital would also involve a connection with multiple sub-communities that are connected to each other via a specific individual. This can be seen in reference to how many participants are direct messaging one specific person to reach someone else (i.e. betweenness centrality).

The greater a participant has a structured social capital (i.e. higher betweenness centrality) and broader network in the community, the more likely they are to be acknowledged as a leader by the other participants in the community. 

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