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Virtual Community Success: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective

In this study we report the findings of a survey on a virtual community of knowledge and interest for end-users. We approach a community participant both as a member and a user, who is also a virtual value initiator for other members. The central issue raised in this study is: what factors motivate a member to participate in a virtual community of knowledge? We utilize uses and gratifications theoretical framework which is grounded in the functionalist and communication research paradigm to develop scales to be empirically tested in the virtual community environment. We use member need satisfaction as a proxy measure for virtual community success. With the help of a community organizer, we posted our survey to develop the constructs and test the relationship with user satisfaction in a virtual community.