User Motivation and Knowledge Sharing in Idea Crowdsourcing

Abstract

We investigate how the propensity to trust, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation drive the intentions of individuals to share knowledge in idea crowdsourcing. Building on motivation theories and Uses & Gratifications (U&G) approach, we conducted a web-based survey within IdeasProject, an open innovation and brainstorming community dedicated to harvesting ideas. Based on a sample of 244 users, our research shows that the key driver of knowledge-sharing intentions is made up of two intrinsic motivations — social benefits and learning benefits. We also found that recognition from the host company affects intention to share knowledge. From the management point of view, the relative importance of social integrative benefits calls for better facilities available for users to be able to help each other in formulating and developing their ideas. Learning and creativity could be inspired by feedback from professionals and experts, while providing insight into technological advances and features dealing with the current tasks.

Inspiring crowdsourcing communities to create novel solutions: Competition design and the mediating role of trust

“…Also engaging in social interactions with like-minded peers , Kosonen et al, 2014 and recognition by peers (Boons et al, 2015) or by the sponsoring company (Jeppesen and Fredericksen, 2006) have been found to be important motivations.…”

Virtual Knowledge Sharing in Crowdsourcing: Measurement Dilemmas

“…Few authors, based upon the existing theories, developed their own measuring tools -the model of online knowledge sharing by Ma & Yuen (2011), which however does not include people's behavior in learning. It seems that the most complete and useful is the tool developed by Kosonen et al (2014) -since it takes into account the findings of the predecessors and the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior. In addition, it contains not only forming individual intentions to share knowledge, but also the actual knowledgesharing behavior, in the light of current research.…”

“…The scale takes into account the intention to share knowledge Marett & Joshi (2009) ("KSI1" If I had some knowledge about a topic, I would consider posting it on the online community website", "KSI2 If I had some knowledge regarding a question someone asked, I would share this knowledge with others") -which does not reflect the idea of virtual knowledge sharing. Kosonen et al (2014), based on the above-mentioned theories, constructed their own research tool -a questionnaire posted on the Internet (Likert's 7-point scale). 283 Internet users participated in the research study (39 questionnaires were rejected; the return rate was 83.3%).…”

With a Little Help From My Customers: The Influence of Customer Empowerment on Consumers’ Perceptions of Well-Established Brands

“…In the third section, we review previous empirical studies that have investigated the effects of customer empowerment on non-involved consumers. As our focus lies on papers investigating the perception of products manufactured by empowering companies, we are not concerned with the subjective experience or outcome of empowerment (Wathieu et al, 2002), individuals' motivation to share knowledge (Kosonen et al, 2014), or the use of different communication channels in the process of customer empowerment (Jespersen, 2011). The findings provide a foundation for deriving the research hypotheses in the fourth section.…”