Balancing Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Rewards: an Exploratory Investigation Into User Generated Content Production

The production of user generated content (UGC) provides an outlet for autonomous self-expression, develops and affirms personally valued skills, and creates the basis for competitive, supportive, and antagonistic peer relationships online. A netnographic analysis of Amazon's Top Reviewer Community, uncovers the countervailing forces that arise from automated feedback systems that extrinsically reward behavior that is intrinsically motivated. While recognition appears important to UGC production, consistency, predictability, and perceived fairness in the reward allocation scheme, appears more important. Cognitive Evaluation Theor

A model of contextual antecedents and exchange outcomes of customer value : an empirical investigation into the catalog and Internet shopping context

Ph.D.Naresh Malhotr

Online Reviewer Engagement: A Typology Based on Reviewer Motivations

Consumers who generate online reviews provide a vital information service for the buying public, influencing nearly half of all purchase decisions. This study focuses on factors that motivate online reviewer engagement (ORE). ORE is a contextually dependent psychological state characterized by varying degrees of altruistic and egoistic market-helping motives coupled with an individual’s intrinsic motivation to review when the needs for autonomy, competence, and social relatedness are fulfilled. Amazon.com’s top reviewer community, which uses a public ranking system to motivate, recognize, and influence reviewer behavior, provides the study’s context. Three reviewer types—indifferent independents (IIs), challenge seekers (CSs), and community collaborators (CCs)—all report altruistic motives; however, egoistic motives associated with rank and psychological need fulfillment vary. IIs fulfill autonomy needs by using the platform for self-expression, with rank exerting little influence. CSs view rank as a game to master. CCs, who have fully integrated the ranking system, perceive reviewing as an enjoyable, socially embedded experience that merits advocacy. This study extends engagement theory by linking market-helping motives and psychological need fulfillment with high levels of behavioral engagement. Thus, findings may help managers tailor reviewing environments to attract and retain a diverse and highly engaged reviewing community

Social Capital Production in a Virtual P3 Community

The purpose of this study is to examine the relational norms that determine social capital-an intangible resource embedded in and accumulated through a specific social structure. The social structure examined in this study is a virtual community created through text-based conversations oriented toward peer-to-peer problem solving (P3). Empirical results support the conceptualization of social capital as an index composed of the normative influences of voluntarism, reciprocity, and social trust. Membership length was found to moderate the virtual P3 community experience. Qualitative analysis of the community dialogue provides additional support for the characterization of virtual P3 activity as community based. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

A Balancing Act: Governance in a Virtual P3 Community

This research explores how online communities of consumer volunteers govern themselves in the absence of contractual agreements or formal hierarchies to regulate member behavior. We propose two governance mechanisms, normative and meritocratic, that lend themselves to the organization of community forms of collaboration and explore in a netnographic study how they operate in a virtual P3 community for technical support. We find that meritocratic governance through online feedback systems leads to a community divide by creating status groups, profoundly altering the social dynamics of the community. [to cite]

Consumer Power: Evolution in the Digital Age

Abstract The predictions of growing consumer power in the digital age that predated the turn of the century were fueled by the rise of the Internet, then reignited by social media. This article explores the intersection of consumer behavior and digital media by clearly defining consumer power and empowerment in Internet and social media contexts and by presenting a theoretical framework of four distinct consumer power sources: demand-, information-, network-, and crowd-based power. Furthermore, we highlight technology's evolutionary role in the development of these power sources and discuss the nature of shifts in power from marketers to consumers in terms of each source. The framework organizes prior marketing literature on Internet-enabled consumer empowerment and highlights gaps in current research. Specific research questions are elaborated for each source of power outlining the agenda for future research areas