The effect of Media Richness on Web 2.0 - Based Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS 2.0)

The study investigates how the richness of social media technologies impact on their use for knowledge sharing among the primary knowledge actors in the Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems. The overall research is based on the amalgamation of the Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) model, Nonaka's SECI model, and the media richness theory (MRT). The AKIS model was applied to discover how the use of web 2.0 technologies for knowledge sharing could enhance interactive communication among the primary knowledge actors in Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems. The SECI model was used to identify the different stages involved in the creation and sharing of knowledge among the knowledge actors and the MRT was also employed to assess how the richness of the web 2.0 technologies could affect the interaction among the knowledge actors through the various SECI processes involved in the knowledge sharing process. The study proposes that there exists a positive correlation between the tacitness of knowledge and the richness of media used for sharing knowledge, which can be used as the basis for selecting the appropriate social media technologies for the different modes of the SECI processes for effective knowledge sharing among knowledge actors.