Cognitive elaboration during wiki use in project teams: An empirical study

Abstract

Increasing research efforts attempt to understand how wikis can be used to improve team performance. Previous studies have mainly focused on the effect of the quantity of wiki use on wiki content quality in wiki-based communities. Our study focuses on the quality aspect of wiki use in a team context. We develop a construct, cognitive elaboration during wiki use, and explore its nomological network in the team context. Integrating literature on wiki and distributed cognition, we propose that cognitive elaboration during wiki use influences team performance (i.e., wiki content quality) through knowledge integration among team members. We likewise identify its team-based antecedents, including task involvement, critical norm, task reflexivity, time pressure, and process accountability by drawing on the motivated information processing literature. Furthermore, we empirically test the research model using multiple-source survey data collected from 46 wiki-based student project teams. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are subsequently discussed. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.