TY - JOUR
T1 - Stages of motivation for contributing user-generated content
T2 - A theory and empirical test
AU - Crowston, Kevin
AU - Fagnot, Isabelle
N1 - Funding Information:
Kevin Crowston is a Distinguished Professor of Information Science and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. He received his Ph.D. (1991) in Information Technologies from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research examines new ways of organizing made possible by the extensive use of information and communications technology. Specific research topics include the development practices of Free/Libre Open Source Software teams and work practices and technology support for citizen science research projects, both with support from the US National Science Foundation.
Funding Information:
This research was partially supported by the United States National Science Foundation , Grant 05-27457 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017
PY - 2018/1
Y1 - 2018/1
N2 - User-generated content (UGC) projects involve large numbers of mostly unpaid contributors collaborating to create content. Motivation for such contributions has been an active area of research. In prior research, motivation for contribution to UGC has been considered a single, static and individual phenomenon. In this paper, we argue that it is instead three separate but interrelated phenomena. Using the theory of helping behaviour as a framework and integrating social movement theory, we propose a stage theory that distinguishes three separate sets (initial, sustained and meta) of motivations for participation in UGC. We test this theory using a data set from a Wikimedia Editor Survey (Wikimedia Foundation, 2011). The results suggest several opportunities for further refinement of the theory but provide support for the main hypothesis, that different stages of contribution have distinct motives. The theory has implications for both researchers and practitioners who manage UGC projects.
AB - User-generated content (UGC) projects involve large numbers of mostly unpaid contributors collaborating to create content. Motivation for such contributions has been an active area of research. In prior research, motivation for contribution to UGC has been considered a single, static and individual phenomenon. In this paper, we argue that it is instead three separate but interrelated phenomena. Using the theory of helping behaviour as a framework and integrating social movement theory, we propose a stage theory that distinguishes three separate sets (initial, sustained and meta) of motivations for participation in UGC. We test this theory using a data set from a Wikimedia Editor Survey (Wikimedia Foundation, 2011). The results suggest several opportunities for further refinement of the theory but provide support for the main hypothesis, that different stages of contribution have distinct motives. The theory has implications for both researchers and practitioners who manage UGC projects.
KW - Helping behaviour
KW - Motivation
KW - User-generated content
KW - Wikipedia
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.08.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.08.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85029358530
SN - 1071-5819
VL - 109
SP - 1339
EP - 1351
JO - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
JF - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
ER -