Examining interdependence between product users and employees in online user communities: The role of employee-generated content

Firm-sponsored online user communities have become product innovation and support hubs of strategic importance to firms. Product users and host firm employees comprise the participants of firm-sponsored online user communities. The online user community provides a forum wherein the product users and firm employees discuss questions, problems or issues resulting from the use of host firms’ products. Extant research on online user communities has largely focused on either product users or employees and has examined the various dynamics that ensue from each entity's community participation. This paper seeks to investigate the interdependence between the two entities in the communities and, in particular, how product users’ reading of employee-generated content influences subsequent knowledge contribution by product users as well as employees. Analyzing data from an online user community over a two-year period, our study shows that employees whose content is read by product users generate additional content and product users who read employee content themselves contribute more knowledge to the community. Thus, the reading of content is not entirely a passive, individual action that only affects the reader. On the contrary, reading sparks additional knowledge contribution by the reader and having readers sparks additional knowledge contribution by the original source of the content, thereby creating a sustainable online user community.