Motivating Content Contributions to Online Communities: Toward a More Comprehensive Theory

This paper extends previous research by proposing a model that can help explain ways to motivate member contributions to online communities (OCs). New features in the model will allow researchers to test the relative effects of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards as motivators in OCs. Some OCs have introduced extrinsic re-enforcements like gifts, social recognition, and feedback to entice their community members to contribute. However, some research in non-OC settings has suggested that extrinsic rewards can be detrimental to intrinsic motivation. The new model presents findings from organizational behavior and psychology literature that suggest extrinsic rewards can increase a person´s intrinsic motivation under some conditions.