Does formal authority still matter in the age of wisdom of crowds?: Perceived credibility, peer and professor endorsement in relation to college students' wikipedia use for academic purposes

Abstract

AbstractThis study explores whether or not formal authority still matters for college students using Wikipedia by examining the variables of individual perceived credibility, peer endorsement and professor endorsement in relation to students' academic use of Wikipedia. A web survey was used to collected data in fall 2011. A total of 142 students participated in the study, of which a total of 123 surveys were useable for this study. The findings show that the more professors approved of Wikipedia, the more students used it for academic purposes. In addition, the more students perceived Wikipedia as credible, the more they used it for academic purposes. The results indicate that formal authority still influences students' use of user‐generated content (UGC) in their formal domain, academic work. The results can be applicable to other UGC, which calls attention to educators' active intervention to appropriate academic use of UGC. Professors' guidelines for UGC would benefit students.