What motivates members to contribute to enterprise online communities

A major challenge for online communities is encouraging members to participate and contribute content to the community. While prior work has identified motivators to contribute for internet community members, it is unknown if these are the same for employees in enterprise communities. A qualitative study with a group of very active employee members of enterprise communities we called "informal leaders", revealed that they were motivated by wanting to help other members but only for those communities which related to their job. In contrast to prior findings from internet communities, they did not appear to be motivated by the need to develop their reputation or to connect with others. These results provide new insights into participation in enterprise online communities.