Effects of ego involvement and social norms on individuals' uploading intention on Wikipedia: A comparative study between the United States and South Korea

This study investigates the reasons and factors associated with individuals' intentions to upload content on Wikipedia with a focus on the role of ego involvement and social norms. The study also compares the associations between the factors and uploading intentions of two different cultures, the United States and South Korea. Using data from surveys of college students from the two countries (n = 249 and 173), structural equation modeling analyses revealed that ego involvement not only plays an essential role in explaining uploading intention but also functions as an antecedent of attitude and perceived behavioral control in both countries. However, the subjective norm was not significantly associated with uploading intention in either country, and the descriptive norm was a marginally significant factor in accounting for uploading intention in the United States. Moreover, it was found that, only in the United States, attitude was significantly associated with uploading intention, whereas perceived behavioral control was a significant factor in explaining uploading intention in both countries. These findings suggest that the effects of cultural differences, the impact of subjective norms in particular, may be weakened with the more self-oriented nature of Web 2.0 applications and social media such as Wikipedia. Theoretical implications are discussed.