What factors determine users’ knowledge payment decisions? A mixed-method study

Methods for obtaining valuable knowledge from the vast amount of mixed-quality information have become a top priority for knowledge demanders. As an online knowledge-sharing channel, the socialized question and answer (Q&A) platform provides important support services for knowledge payment. Based on the personal psychological dimensions of users and social capital theory, this paper aims to study the behavior mechanisms of knowledge payment users and examine the significant factors affecting user payment. Our research was conducted in two steps: a qualitative study to find these factors and a research model based on a quantitative study for testing the hypothesis. The results show that the three dimensions of individual psychology are not all positively correlated with cognitive and structural capital. Our results fill a gap in the literature on the formation of social capital in the knowledge payment environment by showing how individual psychological dimensions affect cognitive and structural capital differently. Thus, this study offers effective countermeasures for knowledge producers on social Q&A platforms to better amass their social capital. This research also makes practical recommendations for social Q&A platforms to strengthen the knowledge payment model.