The behavior of wiki users
Wesley Shu (National Central University) and Yu-Hao Chuang (National Central University), 2011, 39(6), 851–864

“Wikipedia”  has quickly become a part of our life.  The authors report that there are more than 2.8 million English-language articles in Wikipedia, and more than 250 languages are represented. In addition, there are about 12,895,846 users of the English-language  Wikipedia, including 1,744 administrators. Wikis in general are increasing in importance in business, teaching, research, and publishing.

Perhaps not everyone however knows that the term “wiki”comes from the Hawaiian “wee kee wee kee”, meaning fast.   These collaborative writing systems mean that anyone can create or edit a wiki article. Revisions can be evaluated and compared with the input of other users.

The authors constructed a questionnaire based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). The questionnaire was presented online, and sent to online communities, chat rooms, online bulletin boards, and Wikipedia users; 243 valid questionnaires were analyzed.  Demographic differences were found to have no significant effect on the wiki variables, including those related to intention or usage.

The authors found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions (objective factors in the environment that observers agree make an act easy to accomplish), and user involvement all had a positive impact on the intention to use wikis.  However, they did not find a significant relationship between the intention to use wikis and their actual use.  It was found, however, that an intention to use combined with a “bandwagon” effect could predict actual usage.

Robert A. C. (Bob) Stewart, PhD | Editor-in-Chief
Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal

Reference

Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., David, G. B.,  & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27, 425-478.