TY - JOUR
T1 - Do inclusive incentive systems encourage prosocial or competitive behavior in online communities?
AU - Zhen, Lichen
AU - Twyman, Marlon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Platform designers create and implement incentive systems to encourage users to contribute content to online communities. This article examines the effect of a multidimensional incentive hierarchy in motivating users to engage in competitive and prosocial activities. Utilizing an external change observed in the data science community, Kaggle, and applying a quasi-experimental design, we compared users’ engagement levels before and after introducing a multidimensional incentive hierarchy. We found that implementing a multidimensional incentive system directed users from submitting answers to Kaggle competitions to participating in Kaggle’s online forum discussions. However, our additional analyses suggest that the most and the least motivated users may be less likely to be impacted by such incentives.
AB - Platform designers create and implement incentive systems to encourage users to contribute content to online communities. This article examines the effect of a multidimensional incentive hierarchy in motivating users to engage in competitive and prosocial activities. Utilizing an external change observed in the data science community, Kaggle, and applying a quasi-experimental design, we compared users’ engagement levels before and after introducing a multidimensional incentive hierarchy. We found that implementing a multidimensional incentive system directed users from submitting answers to Kaggle competitions to participating in Kaggle’s online forum discussions. However, our additional analyses suggest that the most and the least motivated users may be less likely to be impacted by such incentives.
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U2 - 10.1177/14614448241243099
DO - 10.1177/14614448241243099
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85191080182
SN - 1461-4448
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
ER -