Science Research Management ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (2): 149-159.

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The research on customer knowledge sharing decision behavior based on evolutionary game

Liu Lin, Wang Jiuhe   

  1. School of Economics and Management, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066000, Hebei, China
  • Received:2019-03-13 Revised:2019-09-09 Online:2022-02-20 Published:2022-02-18

Abstract:     In the era of value co-creation, the identity of customers has changed because the implementation of all value creation activities will be centered on the actual needs of users. And customers have become value leaders or co-creators, rather than value receivers and production resources of the enterprise in the traditional sense. Some research has found that customer participation can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, and enhance customer recognition of the enterprise. Customers can not only provide ideas for creating new products, but also participate in the creation of new products, testing of finished products and providing continuous improvement when they participate in the enterprise′s product innovation. 
    As a complex decision-making behavior, knowledge sharing behavior is affected by many factors. Although scholars at home and abroad have studied the decision-making behavior of knowledge sharing from different perspectives, most of the research on knowledge sharing behavior focuses on supply chain knowledge sharing, virtual community knowledge sharing and organizational internal knowledge sharing, and there are few research results on customer knowledge sharing behavior. The customer knowledge sharing process is a dynamic process and the decision-making behavior of customer knowledge sharing is not generated once, but is generated in repeated games. Therefore, this article intends to study the decision-making behavior of customers participating in knowledge sharing from the perspective of customer-enterprise interaction and the evolutionary game model is used to establish a decision-making model for customer knowledge sharing on this basis. And the influence mechanism of factors such as knowledge sharing cost, knowledge reserve, sharing revenue and revenue distribution coefficient on the decision-making behavior of customer knowledge sharing is explored. 
    Through simulation analysis, it is concluded that: (1) when the sharing cost increases, knowledge sharing behavior can only occur if customers and companies have a high willingness to participate in knowledge sharing, which means that the increase in the cost of knowledge sharing is equivalent to increasing the difficulty of customer to participate in knowledge sharing to a certain extent and knowledge sharing behavior will occur only when the willingness of customers and enterprises to participate is high; (2) when the benefit of knowledge sharing increases, it can increase the willingness of customers to participate in knowledge sharing and the process of knowledge sharing is accelerated; (3) when there is a difference in the amount of knowledge reserve between the enterprise and the customer the knowledge sharing process will be delayed, and when the enterprise′s knowledge reserve is greater than the customer′s knowledge reserve, it will be more conducive to the occurrence of knowledge sharing behavior; (4) when the initial probability of enterprises participating in knowledge sharing is low, the occurrence of knowledge sharing behavior can be promoted by formulating a higher profit distribution coefficient for the enterprise, but allocating more shared benefits to customers will be more able to accelerate the process of knowledge sharing when the knowledge sharing behavior occurs.
    In order to ensure the continuous occurrence of customer knowledge sharing behavior, firstly, enterprises should build a platform for real-time interaction and knowledge sharing for customers, and reduce the difficulty of customer participation in knowledge sharing by simplifying the participation process, which can reduce the cost of knowledge sharing of customers to a certain extent. Secondly, the enterprises should make full use of the knowledge shared by customers and on this basis to achieve knowledge innovation and maximize the benefits of knowledge sharing. Thirdly, the enterprise should formulate a scientific income distribution strategy based on many factors such as the composition of shared knowledge, the amount of knowledge reserves, the level of effort, the degree of contribution and the degree of risk aversion, ensuring the fairness and rationality of income distribution strategy.
    As an important participant in knowledge sharing, customers should also actively share knowledge with the enterprises. Firstly, customers should be aware of their important role in the process of corporate innovation and actively participate in the knowledge sharing of enterprises. Secondly, as customers, we should have a sense of sharing and cooperation because the company′s product innovation, service innovation and management innovation are inseparable from the customer′s participation. Thirdly, customers should pay attention to the improvement of their knowledge sharing ability. Because the enhancement of knowledge sharing ability can enhance customers′ ability to express and absorb knowledge, thereby improving the effective utilization of knowledge and increasing the profit generated by knowledge sharing. Fourthly, customers should reasonably choose a way to share knowledge. Because different ways of participation will result in different participation costs and customers should choose a relatively low-sharing way to participate in knowledge sharing according to their actual situation, reducing the participation cost of customers.

Key words: customer participation, knowledge sharing, evolutionary game