Assessing the value of information
ICIS '89 Proceedings of the tenth international conference on Information Systems
Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
A proposal for valuing information and instrumental goods
ICIS '99 Proceedings of the 20th international conference on Information Systems
The cathedral and the bazaar: musings on Linux and open source by an accidental revolutionary
The cathedral and the bazaar: musings on Linux and open source by an accidental revolutionary
Motivation, Knowledge Transfer, and Organizational Forms
Organization Science
Digital Phoenix: Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How It Will Rise Again
Digital Phoenix: Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How It Will Rise Again
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee knowledge sharing intentions
Journal of Information Science
Self-presentation and the value of information in Q&A websites
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Why pay?: exploring how financial incentives are used for question & answer
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Re-examining price as a predictor of answer quality in an online q&a site
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Analyzing crowd workers in mobile pay-for-answer q&a
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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The principal objective of this research was to understand the incentive structure in a mixed economic and social market for information. Prior research suggests that tangible incentives will crowd out intangible incentives; however, information markets invite special examination of this finding. Data representing four years of activity by 523 researchers who gave about 52,000 answers on the Google Answers Web site were collected. Analysis revealed that the main predictor for researchers' participation was the anticipation of tip (gratuity). Analysis of two researcher subgroups showed that in the case of the frequent researchers, the tip was followed by social incentives: interaction (comments) and ratings. For occasional researchers, the tip was followed by the price paid for answers and then by comments. The results suggest that a pure economic incentive serves as enticement; however, social incentives induce persistent participation by researchers and eventually lead to higher average economic gains. The market is catalyzed by social activity, not cannibalized by it, as may have been predicted by theory. This finding provides empirical evidence for “social capital” since social incentives were connected to higher economic gains. The practical implication is that a mixed incentive design is likely to generate lively information-exchange environments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.