Motivation mechanism of gamification in crowdsourcing projects

Zhiyuan Zeng; Jian Tang; Tianmei Wang

doi:10.1108/IJCS-12-2016-0001

International Journal of Crowd Science 2017, 1(1): 71-82 https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCS-12-2016-0001

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Open Access | Issue | Published: 06 March 2017

Motivation mechanism of gamification in crowdsourcing projects

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Zhiyuan Zeng(

), Jian Tang, Tianmei Wang

School of Information, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

Keywords:

Gamification, Crowd behaviour analysis, Crowd-sourced design and engineering, Task-oriented crowdsourcing

Cite this article:

Zeng Z, Tang J, Wang T. Motivation mechanism of gamification in crowdsourcing projects. International Journal of Crowd Science, 2017, 1(1): 71-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCS-12-2016-0001

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Abstract Full text About this article

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the participation behaviors in the context of crowdsourcing projects from the perspective of gamification.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper first proposed a model to depict the effect of four categories of game elements on three types of motivation based upon several motivation theories, which may, in turn, influence user participation. Then, 5 × 2 between-subject Web experiments were designed for collecting data and validating this model.

Findings

Game elements which provide participants with rewards and recognitions or remind participants of the completion progress of their tasks may positively influence the extrinsic motivation, whereas game elements which can help create a fantasy scene may strengthen intrinsic motivation. Besides, recognition-kind and progress-kind game elements may trigger the internalization of extrinsic motivation. In addition, when a task is of high complexity, the effects from game elements on extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation will be less prominent, whereas the internalization of extrinsic motivation may benefit from the increase of task complexity.

Originality/value

This study may uncover the motivation mechanism of several different kinds of game elements, which may help to find which game elements are more effective in enhancing engagement and participation in crowdsourcing projects. Besides, as task complexity is used as a moderator, one may be able to identify whether task complexity is able to influence the effects from game elements on motivations. Last, but not the least, this study will indicate the interrelationship between game elements, individual motivation and user participation, which can be adapted by other scholars.

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About this article

Motivation mechanism of gamification in crowdsourcing projects

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Zhiyuan Zeng(

), Jian Tang, Tianmei Wang

School of Information, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the participation behaviors in the context of crowdsourcing projects from the perspective of gamification.

Design/methodology/approach

Findings

Originality/value

Keywords: Gamification, Crowd behaviour analysis, Crowd-sourced design and engineering, Task-oriented crowdsourcing

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Publication history

Received: 23 November 2016

Revised: 12 January 2017

Accepted: 17 January 2017

Published: 06 March 2017

Issue date: March 2017

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (Grant No.14AZD045).

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Zhiyuan Zeng, Jian Tang and Tianmei Wang. Published in International Journal of Crowd Science. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode