We learn from each other: exploring interpersonal communications in online communities Online publication date: Wed, 26-Sep-2018
by Bo Liang; Debra L. Scammon
International Journal of Web Based Communities (IJWBC), Vol. 14, No. 3, 2018
Abstract: This study investigates the extent to which a participant's prior engagement with other participants predicts the likelihood of this participant's responsiveness to another participant in a later discussion. Further, this study explores the extent to which the content of this participant's reply to another participant demonstrates progress towards advanced learning. This study investigates replies in a diabetes online community using data from ten threads with 431 replies and 209 unique visitors. A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Results show that a participant, who has more prior engagement with other participants, is more likely to respond to another participant in a later discussion. A participant's reply to another participant contains more content indicating advanced learning. These findings imply that enhancing online community members' interpersonal communications can help transform these members into active social learners, who in turn, benefit the whole community by posting knowledge-based messages.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Web Based Communities (IJWBC):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook