An exploratory view on scholars’ affiliation to online knowledge networks in academia

Abstract

The present paper is intended to explore several main factors which correlate with scholars’ affiliation to online knowledge networks in academia. In this front, the considered variables are the number of online knowledge networks the scholars are affiliated to, the personal interests of the scholars to join online knowledge networks, the explicit institutional policies and strategies of the universities to stimulate membership to online knowledge networks, and the research achievements of the scholars affiliated to online knowledge networks. The convenience sample comprised 210 scholars from different European countries. A snowball sampling technique was used, starting from the authors’ university peers towards their contacts from previous institutional or personal collaborations, projects, professional associations, etc. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted for one month. The findings supported all five hypotheses which were inferred, displaying different types of positive correlations, namely from weak to strong associations. Further research is welcome to investigate the proposed relationships more thoroughly.