The influence of users’ dark triad on knowledge contribution behaviour on social question and answer sites

Abstract

The users' knowledge contribution behaviour is the driving force for the sustainable development of the social question and answer sites. This kind of user behaviour is affected by various factors, among which users' personality traits are the prominent ones. The dark triad is a theory on the dark side of personality. This article explores the influence and mechanism of users' dark triad on their knowledge contribution in social question and answer sites. A questionnaire survey and statistical methods such as hierarchical regression and Bootstrap analysis were adopted in this study. Information about 301 users with experience in Chinese social question and answer sites were collected through the questionnaire survey. The quantitative analysis of survey data employed the statistical package SPSS 26.0. The dark triad significantly affects knowledge contribution on social question and answer sites. Online self-disclosure plays a completely mediating role in the relationship between the dark triad and knowledge contribution. The relational psychological contract has a moderating role between online self-disclosure and knowledge contribution. This study argues that the dark triad has a positive effect on knowledge contribution behaviour in socialized question and answer communities by constructing a model of mediated effects that are moderated. The dark triad shows its altruistic side in the context of social question and answer sites. The role of the dark triad in different knowledge-intensive contexts should be viewed dialectically in future research. Based on these findings, we put forward some suggestions for encouraging users' knowledge contribution behaviour in the social media context.