Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/338887 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Editor:] Association for Information Systems [Title:] ECIS 2025 proceedings: European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) 2025, in Amman, Jordan "Co-Creating Value for an Intelligent Future" [DOI/URN:] https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2025/ [Publisher:] Association for Information Systems (AIS) [Place:] Atlanta, GA [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1-16
Publisher: 
Association for Information Systems (AIS), Atlanta, GA
Abstract: 
Performance feedback mechanisms play a pivotal role in motivating users’ voluntary contributions, which are crucial to sustaining online knowledge communities. We use motivation theory and conceptually distinguish reputation and status. Specifically, we hypothesize that reputation motivates contributions when users are of low status, but that achieved status will have a demotivating effect. We test our hypotheses by examining status and reputation mechanisms in a large knowledge exchange community (Stack Overflow). Consistent with our hypotheses, we find robust evidence that reputation-related performance feedback mechanisms are positively related to contribution behavior, whereas status-related mechanisms deplete motivation. Therefore, higher status crowds out the motivational effect of reputation-seeking. This study extends the literature on motivation in knowledge exchange communities by highlighting the difference between status and reputation as two opposing forces. Thereby, we also offer an explanation for the often-observed pattern of declining user contributions in online knowledge exchange communities.
Subjects: 
Knowledge Exchange
Crowdsourcing
Motivation
Status
Reputation
Panel Regression
JEL: 
D83
M15
D91
J24
L86
D23
O33
M50
Document Type: 
Conference Paper
Document Version: 
Published Version
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.