研究期間:10108~10207;iving or Gaining ? Factors Influencing Members’ Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities The emergence of virtual communities brings together geographically dispersed, like-minded people to form a network for knowledge exchange. While much of the knowledge management literature was heavily focused on technological issues, this has changed, such that the importance of human and social factors has been increasingly recognized. To promote knowledge sharing, it is important to know why individuals choose to give or to gain knowledge with other community members when they have a choice. This research aims to identify influential factors and examines their impact on knowledge giving and gaining behavior in virtual communities. Data collected from professional and non- professional virtual communities will be used for the analysis. A Multilevel Structural Equation Models (MSEM) will be adopted for the analysis. The results of this study will provide a comprehensive framework of the impact factors of individual knowledge sharing behaviors. Hopefully, it can serve as the foundation for future research.