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Understanding Crowdsourcing B&T10658_ERIM_Omslag_Borst_19okt10 UNDERSTANDING CROWDSOURCING 221 IRMA BORST EFFECTS OF MOTIVATION AND REWARDS ON PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE IN VOLUNTARY ONLINE ACTIVITIES Companies increasingly outsource activities to volunteers that they approach via an open call on the internet. The phenomenon is called ‘crowdsourcing’. For an effective use Understanding of crowdsourcing it is important to understand what motivated these online volunteers IRMA BORSTUnderstanding Crowdsourcing - and what is the influence of rewards. Therefore, this thesis examines the relationship between Crowdsourcing motivation and rewards on the participation and performance of online community members. We studied motivation, rewards and contributions in three crowd sourcing initiatives that varied in reward systems. Effects of Motivation and Rewards The findings of these three studies resulted in a refined model of the effects of rewards on Participation and Performance in and motivation on voluntary behavior. With this model we provide a possible solution for contrary findings in empirical studies of online communities and the ongoing debate between Voluntary Online Activities two schools of cognitive psychology. Our results also have important implications for organizers of online communities, amongst others, regarding the effective application of reward systems. We also provide a crowdsourcing typology in which crowdsourcing initiatives are ERIM classified on the basis of their reward systems and identify the motivation profiles of optimal performers per crowdsourcing type. Design & layout: B&T Ontwerp en advies (www.b-en-t.nl) Print: Haveka (www.haveka.nl) Design & layout: B&T Ontwerp en advies (www.b-en-t.nl) ERIM The Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) is the Research School (Onder - zoek school) in the field of management of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The founding participants of ERIM are Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), and the Erasmus School of Econo mics (ESE). ERIM was founded in1999 and is officially accre dited by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The research under taken by ERIM is focused on the management of the firm in its environment, its intra- and interfirm relations, and its busi ness processes in their interdependent connections. The objective of ERIM is to carry out first rate research in management, and to offer an ad vanced doctoral pro gramme inResearch in Management. Within ERIM, over three hundred senior researchers and PhD candidates are active in the different research pro - grammes. From a variety of academic backgrounds and expertises, the ERIM community is united in striving for excellence and working at the forefront of creating new business knowledge. Erasmus Research Institute of ManagementErasmus Research - ERIM PhD Series Research in Management Erasmus Research Institute of Management - ERIM Tel. +31 10 408 11 82 ERIM Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Fax +31 10 408 96 40 Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) E-mail [email protected] P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam Internet www.erim.eur.nl The Netherlands Understanding Crowdsourcing Effects of motivation and rewards on participation and performance in voluntary online activities Understanding Crowdsourcing Effects of motivation and rewards on participation and performance in voluntary online activities Over uitbesteden aan de massa Effecten van motivatie en beloningen op deelname en prestaties in vrijwillige online activiteiten Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam op gezag van de rector magnificus Prof.dr. H.G. Schmidt en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties. De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op donderdag 23 december 2010 om 15.30 uur door Wilhelmina Angelina Maria Borst geboren te Utrecht. Promotiecommissie Promotoren: Prof.dr.ir. J.C.M. van den Ende Prof.dr.ir. H.W.G.M. van Heck Overige leden: Prof.dr. G.H. van Bruggen Prof.dr. N. van Yperen Prof.dr. C.L. Tucci Erasmus Research Institute of Management – ERIM Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) Erasmus University Rotterdam Internet: http://www.erim.eur.nl ERIM Electronic Series Portal: http://hdl.handle.net/1765/1 ERIM PhD Series in Research in Management, 221 ERIM reference number: EPS-2010-221-LIS ISBN 978-90-5892-262-5 © 2010, Irma Borst Design: B&T Ontwerp en advies www.b-en-t.nl Layout & pictures: Michael van Roosmalen, Appello BV Print: Haveka www.haveka.nl All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. FOREWORD V Foreword It was not obvious that I would start a PhD project; it was not my long-cherished wish. When I started my working life as a nurse, I did not dream to become a doctor somewhere in the distant future. But after my move from the health sector to management consultancy and involvement in a number of research projects, I slowly grew into the idea of engaging in scientific research. Through the projects Ecolead and B@home, I discovered that research is more interesting and challenging than I suspected. Together with Jan van den Ende, I submitted a research proposal to NWO (Dutch Scientific Association). We were very happy that financing for our project was granted. Jan has not only played a crucial role in the initiation of my PhD project, but also in the entire execution. As my promotor, Jan was very much involved in my day-to-day research activities. I could always knock on his door for advice, which I certainly did. In particular, the mathematical knowledge that Jan shared in the interpretation of the Negative Binomial Regression was invaluable to me. When looking back, I see clearly that Jan’s critical and additional, new questions – which I was not happy with at the time they were raised – led to the significantly improved results of my research. Jan, thank you very much for being a very supportive and stimulating promoter! Two other persons, Eric van Heck and my Logica colleague Geleyn Meijer were closely involved in my thesis project. Thank you, Eric and Geleyn for providing regular feedback on the intermediate results and providing advice on how to move on to the next activities, all with the goal of spurring on my research project. A further word of thanks goes to the other professors that are in my committee: Gerrit van Bruggen, Petra de Weerd-Nederhof, Nico van Yperen, Chris Tucci and Harry Barkema; thank you for taking up the task of committee member. Although not a member of my committee, I really would like to thank Michael Jensen who acted as a friendly reviewer before Jan and I submitted our article to a journal. His VI UNDERSTANDING CROWDSOURCING suggestions for new analysis appeared to be extremely valuable and I hope that we will succeed in publishing our article in a top journal. Besides the support of academic colleagues, I also received a lot of support from non- academic people. First of all, I would like to thank the crowd of respondents. Over 1900 respondents revealed their motivations for their online behavior. I calculated that this crowd jointly spent 282 hours on filling in the websurveys, therewith contributing more than 7 weeks of work to my research. I would also like to thank Wilbert de Vries (Deputy General Editor, Tweakers.net), Jesse Burkunk (Product Manager, NUfoto.nl) and Femke Rotteveel (Coordinator Green Challenge, Dutch Postcode Lottery) who provided me with essential information on the participation and performance of respondents. They facilitated the data gathering from multiple sources which is a major strength in my research design. I would also like to thank the expert panelists that plaid a crucial role in the NUfoto.nl and the Green Challenge studies. Renata Bauer, Bart de Rijk and Dirk Schiemanck: thank you for spending your free time on the assessment of more than 750 newsphotos. Marjolijn Bloemmen, Jeffrey Prins and Femke Rotteveel: thank you for assessing the business plans, each 5 to 10 pages long, of the Green Challenge respondents. Without the work of these two expert juries, I would not have been able to reach the conclusions presented in chapters 6 and 7. Next I am convinced that the help of Jordan Srour and Michael van Roosmalen substantially improved the quality and readability of my thesis. Jordan, thank you for the language check. And Michael, my personal graphical advisor, thank you for the nice graphics and the lay-out of this thesis. It is a pity that our experiment to use graphical tools in the interpretation of empirical data, did not work out as we expected. I was convinced that you could sell your solution to SPSS. Financial compensation is not only an important topic in my studies, but it is also enabled my PhD project. NWO financed two years of research as part of the Network of Networks Program. Novay and RSM provided additional funding so that I could extend my research with another nine months. And finally Logica allowed me to engage in this research project. FOREWORD VII I would like to mention that Logica’s support fit extremely well with Logica’s penultimate slogan ‘releasing your potential’. I doubt whether I would have started without financial support. Therefore the contributions of NWO, Novay, RSM and Logica were crucial for my thesis. In this thesis, I cannot leave my social networks unmentioned. I very much enjoyed being part of RSM’s Department 6. I especially appreciated the lunches with my colleagues Dirk Deichmann, José Larco, Mahmut Ozdemir, Yugang Yu, Erik van Raaij, Henk de Vries, Nima Zaerpour, Amir Gharehgozli, Melek Akin, René de Koster, Daan Stam, Nishant Mishra, Costas Lioukas, Serge Rijsdijk, Koen Dittrich and Tony Hak, in which we had nice discussions on cultural differences and in particular on the Dutch habits.
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