Electronic ties are loosening the loosening the constraints of organizational structure and physical proximity to allow connectivity between individuals who would otherwise find it difficult to identify and sustain contact with others who share the similar interests. This Paper explores the knowledge exchange processes in cyber community by studying marketing managers in companies of Busan and Kyeongnam.
Empathy is an important phenomenon in interpersonal communication which refers to the ability of accurately infer another person's feeling and responding compassionately to another person's distress. So far, the impact of empathy on interpersonal trust in online textual communication has not been studied. This seems an important omission given the continued prevalence of textual communication.
Especially as it is claimed that trust and empathy are closely related, and it is also documented that empathy depends heavily on non-verbal cues in face-to face communication. However, despite this lack of non-verbal cues in online textual communication, marketing managers appear empathic towards each other in some contexts. Furthermore, the information that they share suggests that trust develops.
Through participating in the interpersonal knowledge exchange process, marketing managers save time, and are provided with opportunities to confirm their personal knowledge as up-to-date and relevant to the specific context. By using the interpersonal process, they conform with and confirm the community's social etiquette, which dictates its preference for the identified exchange mechanism.
I argue that the development of relational social capital, social relationships, is a vital component for transforming electronic posting forums into ongoing networks of practice. The results reveal that relational social exists on networks od practice and shows a strong relationship with knowledge exchange processes over and above the influence of individual motivation and ability.