Volume 11, 2023: Issue 2

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Title:

Contemporaneous effects of gamified reward specificity on knowledge contribution: Evidence from a Q&A community

Author(s):

Bo Wen, Northern Arizona University, USA

Yang Jie, University of Utah, USA

Abstract:

This study investigates the contemporaneous effects of virtual badges on knowledge contribution in a Question and Answer (Q&A) community. Drawing on regulatory fit theory, we propose a conceptual framework of gamified reward specificity to explain how winning some types of badges can stimulate users’ contemporaneous knowledge contributions more likely than others. This study empirically assesses such contemporaneous effects by conducting logistic regression analyses on the data collected from Stack Overflow. Our findings suggest that attaining a specific badge can increase users’ contemporaneous knowledge contributions related to that badge while earning a non-specific badge can decrease such contemporaneous contributions. These findings contribute a new perspective to the existing literature and address overlooked aspects of gamification practices, offering innovative insights into designing gamified reward systems more effectively in Q&A communities.

Keywords:

Contemporaneous knowledge contribution, gamified reward specificity, Q&A community, regulatory fit theory, virtual badge

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36965/OJAKM.2023.11(2)25-43

Type:

Research paper

Journal:

The Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management (OJAKM), ISSN: 2325-4688

Publisher:

International Institute for Applied Knowledge Management (IIAKM)

Received:

5 May 2023

Revised:

4 September 2023; 22 September 2023; 26 October 2023

Accepted:

27 Oct 2023

Accepting Editor:

Meir Russ

Pages:

25-43