Reviewing Motivations for Engaging in Decision Support Social Networks

This paper reviews the motivations for people to engage in decision support social networks, from existing connections between social network sites and decision support. The paper points out the three intertwined levels that influence interactions and motivation of people when engaged in social network participation: communities, networks and electronic networks of practice. Participating in social networks draws upon the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors refer to motivation embedded in the action itself (comes within the individual), rather than from external rewards or extrinsic factors such as money or recognition. The paper also identifies some problems in engaging in decision support social networks and discusses potential solutions, namely: to create and maintain a critical number of users; the issue of time in decision processes; linguistic barriers and issues of confidentiality.