The influence of cognitive conflict on the result of collaborative editing in Wikipedia

Different levels of cognitive conflict widely exist in the process of collaborative editing, affecting the result of editing. This can be seen especially in Wikipedia, the free-content encyclopedia edited by users collaboratively. Here, we used the method of exploratory case study to explore the influence of wiki-based cognitive conflict on the result of collaborative editing. Page quality was considered as the result of co-editing. By measuring cognitive conflict and calculating page quality of Hong Kong MRT' featured article, we found that different levels of conflict had different influence on page quality and the influence was changing with time variation. Our findings are concluded into four propositions, which highlight the role of cognitive conflict in affecting page quality. This paper provides the foundation for further revising and develops the theory by using the methods of verification research and statistical analysis.