Purpose

This study aims to introduce and prove the existence of negative rivalry in use, which should be an integral part of goods taxonomy, from the perspective of knowledge sharing and further present the critical role of knowledge sharing in the digital economy era by reviewing the literature, theoretical analysis and real-world cases. It also aims to open a new door for re-recognizing knowledge sharing through an interdisciplinary framework.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proves the existence of negative rivalry through both theoretical analysis (4-E model) and real-world cases, especially the cases of Tesla and ChatGPT, and puts up new reasons for knowledge sharing in the era of digital economy through interdisciplinary methods.

Findings

The authors find out that there are many new phenomena beyond the spectrum of current goods taxonomy, especially beyond the priori understanding of rivalry in use. Digital platforms such as ChatGPT should have been “used up” in no time, for they have attracted so massive users according to (positive) rivalry in use, or should have been unchanged at most according to non-rivalry in use. But what we see is their rapid upgrading with the help of billions of users. The reason is that negative rivalry in use has completely been neglected. The authors find out that the process of knowledge sharing unveils the unrecognized attribute of rivalry in use, i.e. negative rivalry in use, which serves as the fundamental driving force of the breathtaking growth of all kinds of digital platforms.

Originality/value

This study originally put up a 4-E model of goods’ rivalry in use, the brand new term, i.e. negative rivalry in use, and proves its existence and working mechanism from the perspective of knowledge sharing. With the introduction of negative rivalry in use, the traditional four-type goods classification model is extended into a six-type model, which may be a sound marginal contribution, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The study may reshape people’s mindsets on goods usage, especially knowledge management, into a more open-sharing model because it shows that there is very likely a positive-sum game instead of a zero- or negative-sum game for shared knowledge per se and its platform in the process of knowledge sharing in the era of digital economy.

中文翻译：

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使用中的负面竞争：数字经济时代的知识共享视角

目的

本研究旨在从知识共享的角度介绍和证明使用中的负竞争的存在，这应该是商品分类的一个组成部分，并通过文献回顾进一步呈现知识共享在数字经济时代的关键作用，理论分析和现实案例。它还旨在通过跨学科框架为重新认识知识共享打开一扇新的大门。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究通过理论分析（4-E模型）和现实案例，特别是特斯拉和ChatGPT的案例，证明了负面竞争的存在，并通过跨学科的方法提出了数字经济时代知识共享的新理由。

发现

作者发现，有许多新现象超出了当前商品分类的范围，特别是超出了对使用竞争的先验理解。像ChatGPT这样的数字平台应该很快就会被“用完”，因为根据使用中的（积极）竞争，它们吸引了如此多的用户，或者根据使用中的非竞争性，它们最多应该保持不变。但我们看到的是它们在数十亿用户的帮助下快速升级。原因是使用中的负面竞争完全被忽视了。作者发现，知识共享的过程揭示了使用竞争的未被认识到的属性，即使用中的消极竞争，这是各种数字平台惊人增长的根本驱动力。

原创性/价值

本研究独创了商品使用竞争的4-E模型，即使用中的负竞争这一全新术语，并从知识共享的角度证明了其存在性及其作用机制。随着负竞争的引入，传统的四类商品分类模型被扩展为六类模型，据作者所知，这可能是一个合理的边际贡献。这项研究可能会重塑人们对商品使用，特别是知识管理的思维方式，形成一种更加开放的共享模式，因为它表明共享知识本身很可能是正和博弈，而不是零和或负和博弈，并且数字经济时代知识共享过程中的平台。