---
_id: '61805'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'Organizations have increasingly begun to implement enterprise social networks
    (ESNs) due to their potential to afford enterprise-wide collaboration, knowledge
    sharing, and interaction. Despite their proliferation, many companies still struggle
    to motivate a sufficient number of employees to actively participate in these
    collaborative networks. Consequently, many ESNs fail due to a lack of contributions.
    While most employees only read and consume content (lurking), few actively create
    content (posting). Little research has examined the differences between posters
    and lurkers and their underlying motivations, particularly in the ESN context.
    Building on social exchange theory (SET), we identify and test a set of motivational
    factors that researchers have scarcely studied in corporate social networks: reputation,
    common identity, common bond, social interaction, and community commitment. By
    investigating a rich data set of 4,892 respondents in a large knowledge-intensive
    multinational company, we provide evidence that posters and lurkers significantly
    differ in why they participate in ESNs. Further, we introduce a nuanced classification
    of participant roles to distinguish five user groups (super frequent posters,
    frequent posters, infrequent posters, frequent lurkers, and infrequent lurkers)
    with super frequent posters showing significantly higher mean values for all motivational
    factors to use an ESN compared to the other user groups. Our findings yield important
    theoretical and practical implications regarding different usage behaviors and
    on how to enhance participation in ESNs.'
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Lisa
  full_name: Giermindl, Lisa
  last_name: Giermindl
- first_name: Franz
  full_name: Strich, Franz
  id: '122631'
  last_name: Strich
- first_name: Marina
  full_name: Fiedler, Marina
  last_name: Fiedler
citation:
  ama: Giermindl L, Strich F, Fiedler M. How Do They Differ? Analyzing the Motivations
    of Posters and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise Social Networks. <i>Journal
    of Information Technology Theory and Application</i>. 2018;19(2).
  apa: Giermindl, L., Strich, F., &#38; Fiedler, M. (2018). How Do They Differ? Analyzing
    the Motivations of Posters and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise Social
    Networks. <i>Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application</i>, <i>19</i>(2).
  bibtex: '@article{Giermindl_Strich_Fiedler_2018, title={How Do They Differ? Analyzing
    the Motivations of Posters and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise Social
    Networks}, volume={19}, number={2}, journal={Journal of Information Technology
    Theory and Application}, author={Giermindl, Lisa and Strich, Franz and Fiedler,
    Marina}, year={2018} }'
  chicago: Giermindl, Lisa, Franz Strich, and Marina Fiedler. “How Do They Differ?
    Analyzing the Motivations of Posters and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise
    Social Networks.” <i>Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application</i>
    19, no. 2 (2018).
  ieee: L. Giermindl, F. Strich, and M. Fiedler, “How Do They Differ? Analyzing the
    Motivations of Posters and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise Social Networks,”
    <i>Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application</i>, vol. 19, no.
    2, 2018.
  mla: Giermindl, Lisa, et al. “How Do They Differ? Analyzing the Motivations of Posters
    and Lurkers for Participation in Enterprise Social Networks.” <i>Journal of Information
    Technology Theory and Application</i>, vol. 19, no. 2, 2018.
  short: L. Giermindl, F. Strich, M. Fiedler, Journal of Information Technology Theory
    and Application 19 (2018).
date_created: 2025-10-13T11:41:34Z
date_updated: 2025-10-13T11:41:41Z
extern: '1'
intvolume: '        19'
issue: '2'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jitta/vol19/iss2/5/
publication: Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application
status: public
title: How Do They Differ? Analyzing the Motivations of Posters and Lurkers for Participation
  in Enterprise Social Networks
type: journal_article
user_id: '122631'
volume: 19
year: '2018'
...