Intrinsically motivating the crowds: the role of feedback information in crowdsourcing contests

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the motivational role of feedback information (positive and negative) provided by the firm in the face of participant heterogeneity, in terms of past success experience, under the research setting of crowdsourcing contests. Design/methodology/approach Taking insights from feedback studies and the dynamics of self-regulation theory, four theoretical hypotheses are proposed. An integrated dataset of 4,880 contest-participant pairs, which is obtained from an online contest platform and a survey, is empirically analyzed. Findings Empirical analysis shows that both positive feedback and negative feedback are able to stimulate the inner needs of participants. Notably, negative (positive) feedback becomes more (less) effective in intrinsically motivating crowds as they gain more successful experience during contest participation. Originality/value This study brings some new knowledge for the intrinsic motivation of crowds by exploring its antecedents, which have been undervalued in extant literature. The motivational role of feedback information is particularly explored.