Factors affecting willingness to contribute goods and services on social media

Abstract

The study focusses on online community (henceforth OC), a dominant factor in the social media domain. OCs are growing in popularity and offer an accessible outlet for individuals who genuinely wish to contribute for the good of society by identifying motivations for contributing goods and services to OCs. Examples range from Couchsurfing, a global online exchange community for coordinating free travel accommodations, to Freecycle, on which members offer a variety of items for free. Drawing on the Uses and Gratifications, Social Identity and Self-Categorisation theories and on data gleaned from 1,229 respondents, we validate and examine factors that affect willingness to contribute goods and services on social media. We construct and validate a Willingness to Contribute on Social Media (WCSM) Scale, employing SEM to analyse the data. Findings corroborate positive effects of self-esteem, social interaction, social importance, exposure to and subjective value of contributions on the willingness to donate. Self-esteem and interactions mediate the relationship between status-seeking and the willingness to donate.

Keywords:

• Online community
• Social media
• Contribution
• Uses-gratifications
• Social identity
• Self-categorisation