Prior research has repeatedly found that lurkers, the passive members of online communities, dominate such communities in terms of membership. Yet lurking in online communities reflects a phenomenon largely neglected by contemporary information systems theory and research. This study starts by reviewing existing literature on lurking behavior in online communities and identifies an unexplored opportunity related to the nature and origins of lurkers' behavior, the individual propensity to de-lurk, and the dynamic interplay between lurking and de-lurking behavior. A theoretical process-based framework linking epistemic curiosity to lurking and de-lurking behavior in online communities is presented. This framework links prior academic work on epistemic curiosity as personality trait and emotional-motivational state to lurkers' contribution behavior in online communities. The article concludes by proposing that the psychology of curiosity in general holds great promise for research on online communities in information systems.

Lurkers are members of online communities but their presence is hardly (if at all) perceived by others. As prior work has shown, lurkers often dominate online communities and represent up to 90 percent of membership. Yet lurking in online communities remains an unexplored phenomenon in contemporary IS theory and research. In this paper, we briefly review existing theory and research on lurking behavior in online communities, and identify open issues regarding the nature of lurking and what motivates this type of behavior. Based on an analysis of the psychology of curiosity, we develop a theoretical process-based framework linking state and trait curiosity to lurking and de-lurking behavior in online communities. In general, we contend that the psychology of curiosity holds promise for IS-based research on online communities.

We inductively develop a model of the commercialization process for new products or services user entrepreneurs undertake when entering an industry while drawing on proprietary technology developed in another industry. Extending the growing field of user entrepreneurship, we identify a two-phase approach to industry entry by user entrepreneurs who start “under the radar” of incumbent firms, gain experience, attract a first potential customer base, and then, in a second phase, engage in commercialization. During this process, a community of fellow users is of major importance for the entrepreneur, serving as a knowledge pool for skills development and experimentation with different commercialization paths. We study a nascent group of firms founded by users of video games who became entrepreneurs on entering the animation industry by producing Machinima, a new film genre characterized by shooting film in video games. We explain how user entrepreneurs gain access to complementary assets (video games) for their new use (shooting film), how they deal with intellectual property issues when using other firms’ assets, and how user entrepreneurs combine domain knowledge about film production with their experience in video games and the art of Machinima. Our propositions hold implications for management and policy.

Virtual communities that make use of social network site features blend known applications of virtual communities. These communities can be simultaneously social and commercial, organization sponsored and heavily relying on member interaction. We explore modding behavior that allows members to evaluate other members' contributions both with numerical value and qualitative rating. We show that approximately half of all members received mods on their comments, that the majority of mods given were positive, and that the amount of mods received for a comment was related to the position of the comment in the community website's thread. Contributing to the emerging literature of social network sites and virtual communities, we discuss implications for theory, future research and management.