| In contemporary workplaces, employees hold the key to the legitimization of user-generated content as part of learning and knowledge-sharing landscapes. For this reason, a qualitative constructivist grounded theory study was conducted to gain insight into various aspects of user-generated content creation. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research was to explore what various aspects motivate, catalyze, or inhibit knowledge-sharing behaviors and the creation of user-generated content by U.S.-based product design and development employees at a global technology manufacturing company with a custom social computing platform. Research questions were structured to: (a) identify the aspects that contribute to or inhibit contribution, (b) identify catalysts that trigger contribution, and (c) identify if the triggers contribute to a change in behavior. Through constant comparative analysis, results were organized into five key categories: catalysts, decision filters, organizational support, sociorelational contextual influences, and technology. Grounded in self-determination theory, uses and gratifications theory, and connectivism, the Perpetual Evaluation and Affinity for Collaboration and Engagement (PEACE) theory was constructed. Data revealed that opposing forces serve as motivators or inhibitors, along with other factors, that either push people to act (i.e., contribute to the social platform), or deter them from engaging and contributing. These interconnected aspects are both internal and external to the person. It is the perpetual process of assessing the various aspects that motivate or inhibit contribution that determined whether the catalyst to create and contribute UGC was ignited or left dormant. |
