Abstract
Within knowledge-based economies, one of the major forms of organisational change concerns the impact of the introduction and dissemination of information and communication technologies on markets, consumers and firms. The existence of virtual or ‘electronic’ communities is one of the main consequences of this impact. In this context, the main purpose of this article is to answer the following questions: Why do firms and consumers take part in these communities? Are they driven by the usual or by more specific motivations based on reciprocity or we-rationality? Do these potentially new types of organisation and interaction, and new motivations change the working and the dynamics of our economic systems?
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Philippe Fontaine and Pierluigi Porta for their useful comments and suggestions as well as Michel Gensollen for his crucial contributions to the field and the discussions we had several times with him. Their respective influences do not imply their responsibilities. Remaining errors are only ours. Finally, Richard Arena also wishes to express his deep gratitude to Wolfson College, Cambridge (UK) for its material support, friendly atmosphere and intellectual stimulation. This paper was written when R. Arena was a visiting fellow of this college.
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Richard Arena is an economist and Bernard Conein is a sociologist.
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Arena, R., Conein, B. On virtual communities: individual motivations, reciprocity and we-rationality. Int. Rev. Econ. 55, 185–208 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-007-0033-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-007-0033-2