Simple but logical: risk knowledge design and its impact on engagement in online knowledge communities

Online knowledge communities have emerged as crucial places for knowledge and risk management in the face of systemic risks. The vitality of online knowledge communities requires users’ active engagement. This research paper aims to explore how text complex level and text analytic level as effective risk knowledge design leverages encourage users’ engagement under different “riskification” levels.

This paper performs linguistic analysis on 210 TED talk transcripts and 38,377 comments from 2002 to 2018. The authors construct the variable of text complex level and conduct ordinary least squares regressions to test the relationships among text complex level, text analytic level and user engagement under different levels of “riskification” in the online knowledge community.

High text complex level decreases engagement, while high text analytic level increases engagement. A high level of “riskification” exaggerates the negative effect of text complex level but diminishes the positive effect of the text analytic level.

This research advances knowledge management by highlighting users’ engagement and responding to shared risk knowledge from a different perspective than knowledge supply. The focus on risk communication in online knowledge communities broadens the scope of knowledge management literature beyond the confines of organizations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first studies to propose risk knowledge design approaches for communicating systemic risks.