Social motives polarity and its impact on knowledge sharing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look into the impact of important social motives on knowledge‐sharing behavior in a collaborative environment and how people might react to each of these motives.Design/methodology/approachThe applied methodology used in this paper is based on an online survey and statistical hypothesis developed for each of the motives with different comparison means under two circumstances.FindingsThe paper exhibits the different impact of each of the motives over the sharing behaviour in collaborative platforms. Despite general beliefs, although many motives might not have a very significant impact under normal behavioral circumstances that is based on either an agreement or disagreement level, all of those tested motives show a positive tendency when tested on the neutral (Dilemma) position.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has examined a small and generalized group of people for social networking analysis with a limited number of motivational factors tested. Future research can extend the findings on a greater scale and/or examination of more diverse motives.Originality/valueThis study tries to change the presumptions about the collaboration‐sharing behaviours and motives and how social environment can behave differently under the same circumstances on a business‐oriented platform. The study also suggests how the findings can be applied to leverage social collaboration more efficiently to enhance knowledge sharing for business purposes.