Personality traits and knowledge sharing behavior in social media: mediating role of trust and subjective well-being

Abstract

Purpose

Over the past decade, social media have significantly changed the way people communicate and interact with one another, which might result in positive or negative consequences. Every day, people use these technologies to share knowledge in the form of short messages, articles, images, videos and voice. Universities use social media to better connect the learners and educational communities. Previous studies have reported the positive impact of using social media by students to share knowledge. Despite the significance of social media usage in educational activities, there still remain limitations. Few studies have empirically investigated drivers related to knowledge sharing behavior in social media, and there are some inconsistent findings concerning effective factors. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the effect of personality traits on knowledge sharing behavior in social media among students by the mediating role of trust and subjective well-being (SWB).

Design/methodology/approach

To obtain this aim, cross-sectional survey was conducted. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample of 527 Iranian students, out of which 425 were used in the final analysis. Regression analysis and bootstrap method were used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

The research findings revealed that the big five personality traits are associated with SWB, perceived trust and knowledge sharing behavior among students. With the exception of conscientiousness trait, all the traits used in this study lead to a significant change of the knowledge sharing behavior among students.

Practical implications

The findings offer further understanding about the mechanisms by which personality traits lead to knowledge sharing behavior through trust and SWB. They suggest the students to enhance personality profile and improve SWB for the benefit of these new educational platforms. Also, policymakers are encouraged to create trustworthy social media platforms to increase perceived trust and eventually knowledge sharing behavior among students.

Originality/value

Little is known about the effect of personality traits, as well as trust and SWB on knowledge sharing behavior among students. The study contributes to the related literature through empirically indicating how personality traits influence knowledge sharing behavior by the mediating role of trust and SWB.

Citation

Jami Pour, M. and Taheri, F. (2019), "Personality traits and knowledge sharing behavior in social media: mediating role of trust and subjective well-being", On the Horizon, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 98-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/OTH-03-2019-0012