Investigating Customer Knowledge Sharing in Online Brand Communities with a Meta-synthesis Approach

Today, the customer is considered the most important partner for the value-creation process in organizations. Companies and organizations have also turned to use social media and online communities in order to improve their efficiency, cost-effectiveness, or the quality of their customer operations. The purpose of the present study is to identify the factors affecting the sharing of customer knowledge in online brand communities with the meta-synthesis technique. In this research, using the systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis approach, the findings and results of studies from 2006 to 2022 are analyzed. To do this, the method of Sandelowski and Barroso (2006) has been used. In this research, after the initial search and refining of resources related to the subject of customer knowledge sharing in online communities, 76 sources were selected as final sources with the critical evaluation method. Then, using the qualitative method of document analysis using ATLAS.ti software, 7 dimensions and 74 components were identified as factors of customer knowledge sharing in online communities. The main dimensions identified are individual factors, social, motivational, technological factors, brand network relationship structure factors, brand-related factors, and knowledge-related factors. Managers and decision-makers of organizations and companies can adapt their company and organization to the competitive environment by understanding different aspects of online knowledge sharing.

The issue of knowledge sharing in online communities is widely important in various fields of education, human resource management, and marketing. Sharing customer knowledge leads to new product creation, existing product development, facilitating understanding of emerging market opportunities, and improving long-term customer relationships (Salim et al., 2022). In other words, the sharing of customer knowledge is important for both the organization and the customers themselves because in this way the companies will benefit from the business of the customers, and the development and improvement of the companies' activities will be provided (Sari et al., 2019). Therefore, identifying the factors that encourage and facilitate customer knowledge in online communities, especially online brand communities, is very important and the basis for the progress and excellence of companies. In this regard, in the present study, an attempt is made to identify and categorize the factors affecting customer knowledge sharing in online brand communities.

The current research is qualitative in nature based on practical purposes. The statistical population of the research is all the scientific research related to the research topic, the most relevant of which were selected using a meta-composite approach, which is a kind of systematic review. In order to achieve the coherence and integration of the results of studies related to the effective factors on the sharing of customer knowledge in online communities, in this research, the meta-synthesis method based on the seven-stage model of Sandelowski and Barroso (2006) was used. In this section, reliable sources and studies were reviewed in the field of customer knowledge sharing in online brand communities between 2006 and 2022.

In this research, after the initial search and refining of sources related to the subject of customer knowledge sharing in online communities, 76 sources were selected as final sources with the Critical Appraisal Skills Program and then with the qualitative method of document analysis using the ATLAS ti software. Seven main factors (categories) and 74 components were identified as factors of customer knowledge sharing in online communities. The main dimensions identified are individual factors, social, motivational, technological factors, brand network relationship structure factors, brand-related factors, and knowledge-related factors.

As mentioned above, seven categories of factors were identified and categorized by using the meta-synthesis method. Individual factors are more focused on the personality aspects of customers and have been discussed in many studies. For example, according to Chang et al. (2013), extrovert people have a greater desire to share knowledge in online communities, or people's desire to help others and altruism have also been proposed in several studies as individual factors affecting knowledge sharing. The second identified factor is social factors. Social factors refer to the indicators based on which customers tend to meet their social needs and maintain their interaction with the society through sharing knowledge in online communities. As an example, indicators such as the feeling of belonging to the community or seeking social support have been confirmed in various studies such as Sari et al. (2019) and Degbey and Pelto (2021). Motivational factors also play an important role in customer participation in knowledge sharing. Among the sub-characteristics of this category of factors, hedonistic, emotional and social benefits, and incentive mechanisms are mentioned more than others in studies such as Munjal et al. (2019). The fourth group of factors affecting customer knowledge sharing is technological factors that mostly refer to technical aspects and platforms that provide access to the company's online space for customers. In this category, factors such as privacy (Arief et al., 2018), ease of use (Baima et al., 2022), and platform design (Li & Cox, 2021) can be seen, which show the importance of choosing a platform and its design for companies. Brand-related factors constitute the fifth group of factors affecting customer knowledge sharing in online communities. These factors are directly related to the characteristics and coordinates of the brand. In other words, if a company is able to act successfully in the way of branding and features such as brand trust (Dessart et al., 2015), brand satisfaction (Salim et al., 2020), and brand loyalty (li et al., 2022) can hope for success in sharing customer knowledge in online communities. Brand network relationship structure factors are the sixth group of factors affecting customer knowledge sharing, which emphasize the important role of communication factors. These factors have been mentioned in the studies of Salim et al. (2022) and Elsharnouby (2021). The last and seventh group of factors affecting the sharing of customers' knowledge in online communities are knowledge-related factors that are more effective from the content aspect.