Antecedents of Online Knowledge Seeking of Employees in Technical R&D Team: An Empirical Study in China

The Internet provides the most extensive platforms for information and knowledge seeking. Accordingly, investigating antecedents for online knowledge seeking becomes an important topic for managing knowledge-based work and innovation. Taking an integrative approach drawing on social cognitive theory, expectancy theory, and theory of reasoned action, this article examines the antecedents of online knowledge seeking with a sample of 246 professionals in 43 technical R&D teams. The results reveal that 1) computer-based self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and norms of knowledge sharing have a joint and positive effect on online knowledge seeking behavior; and 2) norms of knowledge sharing positively moderate the relationship between extrinsic motivation and online knowledge seeking. This article is one of the few that develop and empirically test an integrative model of antecedents for online knowledge seeking. The findings not only contribute to the knowledge seeking and knowledge management literatures, but also shed light on managing employee knowledge behaviors and learning via the means of the Internet.