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Impact of users’ motivation on gamified crowdsourcing systems: A case of Stackoverflow

    Issues in Information Systems

    • Sarah Penoyer (student), Georgia College
    • Breana Reynolds (student), Georgia College
    • Bryan Marshall, Georgia College
    • Peter W. Cardon, University of Southern California
    APA Citation: Penoyer, S., Reynolds, B., Marshall, B. & Cardon, P. W. (2018). Impact of users’ motivation on gamified crowdsourcing systems: A case of Stackoverflow. Issues in Information Systems, 19(2)33-40.

    Abstract

    Companies like StackOverflow use crowdsourcing and gamification to entice users to participate in the answering of questions in the online forums. StackOverflow has overwhelmingly become the go to place for users to seek help with programming related questions. This research aims to investigate what factors influence the users on StackOverflow to participate. We survey 200 of the highest ranked users on StackOverflow. We asked them questions related to both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Surprisingly, we found that for the highest ranked users on StackOverflow intrinsic motivations like helping others, reciprocity, and making an impact are more important than financial gains and organizational pressures.

    Keywords: crowdsourcing, gamification, software development, forums, help desk