E-commerce communities as knowledge bases for firms

Most studies in the knowledge management literature investigate diversified issues from a firm and organizational perspective. Based on the observations of practices in Asia, many knowledge activities occur at the e-commerce community level and represent knowledge activities for whole communities. Hence, this study is intended to explore knowledge management issues in e-commerce communities, and comprehend the way it is practiced. This study reports on a series of in-depth interviews, reviews academic and practical knowledge management cases to construct a model, and categorizes knowledge management activities in e-commerce communities in four different modes. They include knowledge dissemination, knowledge advancement, knowledge sharing deals, and knowledge generation. A number of hypotheses are proposed that relate e-commerce-related knowledge management's impact on innovativeness performance. This research involves an empirical study of 107 leading organizations in the business-to-business e-commerce community in China and Taiwan. The statistical results provide evidence to confirm the proposed model and the effects of e-commerce community-based knowledge management on innovativeness. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.