Understanding knowledge outcome improvement at the post-adoption stage in a virtual community

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to solve the challenges in knowledge outcome (e.g. knowledge contribution, knowledge exploration) improvement at the post-adoption phase in the context of e-communities. This study develops a model by integrating dedication-constraint framework and self-presentation theory. The model proposes that knowledge outcomes at the post-adoption phase rely on relationship development between community members, conceptualized as commitment. The authors also hypothesize that members' perceived online self-presentation quality, theorized as personal control and social influence, serves as the key means to motivate members' commitment. Design/methodology/approach - This study used survey instrument to collect data and adopted partial least squares to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings - The results show that perceived online self-presentation quality positively affects relationship development, which in turn affects continuance intention for knowledge outcomes. Research limitations/implications - This study expands the dedication-constraint framework by integrating the self-presentation theory. This study contributes new knowledge by proposing a model that delineates the relationship between online self-presentation quality, relationship development, and knowledge outcomes at the post-adoption stage. Practical implications - This study shows that members' perceived online self-presentation quality affects both affective commitment and calculative commitment, which in turn affect knowledge outcomes, suggesting the important role of the perceived quality in stimulating a member's post-adoption reactions. Originality/value - This study contributes to the research on post-adoption behavior in an e-community context by accounting for the influence of e-community features in self-presentation quality and dedication-constraint mechanisms on post-adoption phenomena.