Understanding knowledge contributors’ satisfaction in transactional virtual communities: A cost–benefit trade-off perspective

•Extrinsic benefit plays an important role in the TVC context.•Cost factors matter in the TVC context.•Goal attainment mediates the effects of benefits and costs on satisfaction.•Opportunity cost is more important than actual cost.

This study investigates knowledge contributors’ satisfaction with a distinct type of virtual communities (i.e., transactional virtual communities, TVCs), where knowledge sharing is guided mainly under the principle of economic exchange, and cost–benefit tradeoff is the primary motive for knowledge sharing. Drawing upon the goal attainment theory, we examine the effects of two types of benefits (i.e., extrinsic and intrinsic) and two types of costs (i.e., actual and opportunity) on knowledge contributors’ satisfaction, and highlight the mediating role of perceived net goal attainment. A field survey with 205 subjects in a TVC in China is conducted to test the research model.