TY - JOUR
T1 - The Paradox of Interaction
T2 - Communication Network Centralization, Shared Task Experience, and the Wisdom of Crowds in Online Crowdsourcing Communities
AU - Yan, Bei
AU - Jian, Lian
AU - Ren, Ruqin
AU - Fulk, Janet
AU - Sidnam-Mauch, Emily
AU - Monge, Peter
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Research on the wisdom of crowds (WOC) identifies two paradoxical effects of communication. The social influence effect hampers the WOC, whereas the collective learning effect improves crowd wisdom. Yet it remains unclear under what conditions such communication impedes or enhances collective wisdom. The current study examined two features characterizing communication in online communities, communication network centralization and shared task experience, and their effect on the WOC. Both these features can serve as indicators of the likelihood that underlying communication may facilitate either social influence or collective learning. With an 8-year longitudinal behavioral-trace data set of 269,871 participants and 1,971 crowds, we showed that communication network centralization negatively affected the WOC. By contrast, shared task experience positively predicted the WOC. Shared task experience also moderated the effect of communication network centralization such that centralized communication networks became more beneficial for crowd performance as shared task experience increased.
AB - Research on the wisdom of crowds (WOC) identifies two paradoxical effects of communication. The social influence effect hampers the WOC, whereas the collective learning effect improves crowd wisdom. Yet it remains unclear under what conditions such communication impedes or enhances collective wisdom. The current study examined two features characterizing communication in online communities, communication network centralization and shared task experience, and their effect on the WOC. Both these features can serve as indicators of the likelihood that underlying communication may facilitate either social influence or collective learning. With an 8-year longitudinal behavioral-trace data set of 269,871 participants and 1,971 crowds, we showed that communication network centralization negatively affected the WOC. By contrast, shared task experience positively predicted the WOC. Shared task experience also moderated the effect of communication network centralization such that centralized communication networks became more beneficial for crowd performance as shared task experience increased.
KW - collective learning
KW - crowdsourcing
KW - online communities
KW - social influence
KW - wisdom of crowds
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85084591470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85084591470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0093650220915033
DO - 10.1177/0093650220915033
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85084591470
SN - 0093-6502
VL - 48
SP - 796
EP - 818
JO - Communication Research
JF - Communication Research
IS - 6
ER -