Corporate Wikis: The Effects of Owners' Motivation and Behavior on Group Members' Engagement.

Author List: Arazy, Ofer; Gellatly, Ian R.;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 2012, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 87-116.
Originally designed as a tool to alleviate bottlenecks associated with knowledge management, the suitability of wikis for corporate settings has been questioned given the inherent tensions between wiki affordances and the realities of organizational life. Drawing on regulatory focus theory and social cognitive theory, we developed and tested a model of the motivational dynamics underlying corporate wikis. We examined leaders (owners) and users of 187 wiki-based projects within a large multinational firm. Our findings revealed two countervailing motivational forces, one oriented toward accomplishment and achievement (promotion focus) and one oriented toward safety and security (prevention focus), that not only predicted owners' participation but also the overall level of engagement within the wiki groups. Our primary contribution is in showing that, notwithstanding the potential benefits to users, wikis can trigger risk-avoidance motives that potentially impede engagement. Practically, our findings call for an alignment between organizational procedures surrounding wiki deployment and the technology's affordances.
Keywords: knowledge management (KM); knowledge management systems (KMS); knowledge sharing; motivation; owner; regulatory focus theory; social cognitive theory; wiki
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#92 0.167 equity conventional punishment justice wisdom focus behavior fairness compliance suggest theory significant certainty misuse reward settings behavioral mandatory drawing widely
#55 0.129 attributes credibility wikis tools wiki potential consequences gis potentially expectancy shaping exploring related anonymous attribute employing life comment comments 2.0
#15 0.114 motivation intrinsic theory social extrinsic expectancy motivations motivate usage enjoyment rewards consequences reciprocity organizational motivational focus helping system's exploratory substantial
#150 0.090 issues management systems information key managers executives senior corporate important importance survey critical corporations multinational managing interviews study results concerns
#53 0.071 knowledge application management domain processes kms systems study different use domains role comprehension effective types draw scope furthermore level levels
#73 0.062 security threat information users detection coping configuration avoidance response firm malicious attack intrusion appraisal countermeasures benefit costs threats ability rate
#233 0.062 group gss support groups systems brainstorming research process electronic members results paper effects individual ebs using used anonymity ideas discussion
#293 0.060 values culture relationship paper proposes mixed responsiveness revealed specific considers deployment results fragmentation simultaneously challenges explain attribute building indicated obtain
#1 0.053 organizational organizations effectiveness factors managers model associated context characteristics variables paper relationships level attention environmental technological based maturity organization's relationship