Blink And You’ll Miss It! / Pete / CC BY / Source: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/comedynose/4058757916/

Why do peers help peers to share and co-produce knowledge? Research suggests that there is a whole set of motivations that makes people share their knowledge, a mixture between altruistic and self-serving motives summed up in the following table:

14 Reasons Why Peers Help Peers to Learn: Why Do They Share Their Knowledge? (Table 1)

1. Because you learn yourself through co-production and tutoring
2. Because you win recognition and prestige from your peers
3. Because you might further your own interests through the co-production of knowledge, such as testing new solutions, benchmarking, mastering a technology, etc.
4. Because you can solve a problem that you can only solve by collaborating with others
5. Because you might gain power of persuasion within your organisation, network, or peer group
6. Because you are proud to co-own a tangible “product”
7. Because you have the freedom to co-create knowledge or goods, which increases autonomy and self-direction, and thereby motivation
8. Because you build emotional bonds with people and things
9. Because you feel “meaningful” by supporting the community, giving back through reciprocity (putting values such as fairness, solidarity, and altruism into practice)
10. Because you know that the result of your commons-based peer activities will be available to others over time, and cannot be monopolized or privatized
11. Because you feel good being associated with a trendy and innovative community
12. Because you get continued access to knowledge, news and services
13. Because you enlarge your personal and professional networks
14. Because you can freely choose topics according to your interests

Sources for table above: GTZ 2006: 43; Wenger et al. 2011; Preece/Shneiderman 2009; Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. 2011: 125ff; Ghosh et al. 2002: 43-50; own considerations; Pyne 2010 ¹

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This blog is part of a series of 10 questions that I have extracted of my article “Learning by Sharing  – „How global communities cultivate skills and capacity through peer-production of knowledge“. The piece has been released in June  as part of the GIZ Online- Series „10 trends in open innovation. How to leverage social media for new forms of cooperation“. Check it at https://www.knowledge-commons.de/en/learning-by-sharing/

Further readings on the question? Here.

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Note: This text was first published on the blog of Balthas Seibold at the Alumniportal Germany (www.alumniportal-deutschland.org/en/). Check the blog ( register or login first). All blog entries represent the personal views and ideas of Balthas Seibold.