Leveraging User Interests And Resources For Better User Contribution In Wikipedia

Along with the development of Wiki technology, its capability of generating reliable information, high quality articles, or high value user contributions have been debated by an increasing number of scholars. Designed as a collaborative information editing system, Wiki provides incredible opportunities for any online user to create and maintain a large number of articles. Meanwhile, it may also bring in risk or damage during the knowledge creation process.In this research, the interest is in individual editor’s contribution to an open web-based encyclopedia, such as Wikipedia. The success of Wikipedia greatly benefits from the effort and contribution of every editor in the platform, no matter s/he is registered or anonymous. Wikis are designed to support collaborative editing, without focusing on individual contribution, such that it is not straightforward to determine who contributed and what s/he contributed. Collaborative editing is emphasized in Wikipedia. However, the process of how an editor can provide valuable contribution to Wikipedia has been largely uninvestigated. It is imperative to understand this process and identify under which conditions editors are able to make better contributions to the platform.Drawing upon the literature of critical mass theory and the perspective of wisdom of crowds, this study builds a research model that examines individual contribution value with considerations to interests, resources, contributor type, independence, and decentralization. This study introduces an approach to assess the contributions of Wiki editors along with their specific contribution activities. The model explains editors’interests and resources from the perspective of depth and breadth. Depth represents intensity while breadth demonstrates the extensity. In addition, resources are divided into available resources and volunteered resources. This research proposes that available resources, volunteered resources, and interests exhibit positive impacts on contribution value. Their relationships are further contingent upon the moderating effects of contributor type, independence, and decentralization.To validate the research model, both quantitative and qualitative methods were incorporated in this study. The quantitative study employed an online survey. As compensation, the qualitative method adopted content analysis method to analyze what an editor has contributed. Together, these two methods provided rich data regarding Wikipedia users’perceptions and their actual editing activities.Structural equation modeling to the data demonstrated significant findings. Most of the proposed hypotheses were supported. The influence from breadth/depth of interests and available resources toward contribution value varies for different types of editors. Meanwhile, volunteered resources have a stronger impact on contribution value under the circumstances of low independence and high decentralization. The research model serves as a well-explained framework in understanding individual editor’s contribution value and assessing their contribution activities.This study has the potential to provide important insights to both researchers and practitioners. On the theoretical side, this research contributes to IS research by discussing the importance and relevance of individuals’interests and resources in online collaborative contribution, identifying and empirically testing potential antecedents of contribution value, developing and validating individuals’ independence and decentralization characteristics, and offering new perspectives for understanding both critical mass theory and wisdom of crowds. On the practical side, this study also provides some important insights and strategies to Wiki practitioners by discussing the different contributor types and contribution activities. Different characteristics should be noted in order to recruit a core group of dedicated high value contributors and to encourage team collaboration for encyclopedia work.