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.

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. 

Structured Social Capital Impact on Leadership Emergence in Online Q&A Communities

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

New York University

Leadership is important within an online community as it helps encourage others to contribute and maintains the cohesion within the community. It emerges based on on how much the person is contributing in knowledge as well as sociability. The lack of social presence forces members to put more effort into connecting with others, therefore the more connections and social capital a member has, the more likely they are to be seen as a leader.Leadership is important within an online community as it helps encourage others to contribute and maintains the cohesion within the community.

Leadership in online Q&A communities

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

Learn Before

Related

Learn After