Knowledge Sharing Ties and Equivalence in Corporate Online Community: A Novel Source to Understand Voluntary Turnover

More and more companies are using online knowledge-sharing communities, and beyond facilitating the exchange of valuable information, these communities represent a novel avenue through which companies can better understand their employees. Little is known, however, about whether and to what extent employees’ risk of voluntary turnover is related to their knowledge-sharing activities within the corporate online community. This study addresses this critical issue and provides a comprehensive perspective that considers both in-degree and out-degree knowledge-sharing ties (i.e., knowledge acquisition and contribution, respectively). Specifically, we theorize and empirically analyze the relationship between two novel knowledge-sharing indicators at the employee-level—the establishment of bidirectional (vs. unidirectional) knowledge-sharing ties and the equivalence of those ties—and the likelihood of voluntary turnover. We collect a unique dataset that includes details about employees’ knowledge-sharing activities within the community and official job histories, including voluntary turnover events. A survival model and series of robustness checks reveal that employees who establish bidirectional knowledge-sharing ties have a lower turnover likelihood than those who establish unidirectional ties, and those with higher (vs. lower) equivalence also have a lower turnover likelihood. In light of the critical role of knowledge management and the extensive use of online communities, our study offers a better understanding of how employees’ voluntary turnover is related to their knowledge-sharing patterns in corporate online communities, and it delivers important managerial implications.