| Summary: | 碩士 === 東海大學 === 資訊管理學系 === 101 === Organizational Ecology is a field provides a useful theoretical framework for analyzing interactive processes because it emphasizes organizational survival and interdependence. Moreover, it is suitable for analyzing large number of small organizations (Hannan & Freeman, 1989). There were many models or theories concerning organizational failure were induced, such as the liability of smallness, the liability of newness, density dependent theory, size localized competition model, and resource partitioning model. However, these studies collected longitudinal data and drawn conclusions from physical organizations; the question is, are they still applicable to virtual organizations as virtual communities (VCs)? VCs are deemed as one of the most important knowledge sharing vehicles in knowledge era. These two categories of organizations are obviously heterogonous in several ways.
We collected various detailed log data of 275 VCs from a VC generating platform. This lends the chance of validating organizational failure theories of organizational ecology on VCs through both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Specially, survival analysis was applied to verify the liability of smallness and resource partitioning model. The results demonstrated both the liability of newness and the liability of smallness can be applied to virtual communities; however, density dependence theory, resource partitioning model, and size localized competition model are not suitable being applied to virtual communities. Some implications drawn from the research results are provided for virtual communities’ managers.
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