The way we share and learn: An exploratory study of the self-regulatory mechanisms in the professional online learning community

Self-regulation involves a triadic interplay among personal beliefs, individual behavior, and environment that both proactively and reactively influences one’s adjustment of efforts, courses of action, and attainment of goals to reach the anticipated outcomes. In this study, we propose and validate a self-regulation model that explores the effects of social capital and social cognitive factors on knowledge-sharing behavior. The results demonstrate that members of an online knowledge communities regulate his or her internal motivation, external demands, interpersonal relationships, help-seeking strategies, as well as confidence of capability in utilizing social resources and performing knowledge sharing task. Through a stronger sense of community, emotional attachment and empathic concern about others’ needs, members develop a high level of professional competence to collaborate with others and adequate efficacious beliefs to emotionally and instrumentally help others. The implications to both research and practice are discussed to enhance the understanding and effectiveness of self-regulation in the realm of knowledge management.