What Motivates Solvers’ Participation in Crowdsourcing Platforms in China? A Motivational–Cognitive Model

The voluntary participation of individuals is critical to the success of an online crowdsourcing platform (OCP) and acts as a major obstacle for many organizations seeking engagement with solvers. Based on social cognitive theory and motivation theory, an integrative model is proposed to examine solvers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and personal cognition that influences their participation in OCPs, as well as the influences of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on individuals’ personal cognition. Empirical data from 297 active solvers on a large OCP in China was collected to test the research model using structural equation modeling. Results show that different motivations play varying roles in solvers’ participation in OCPs. Personal cognition (i.e., perceived self-efficacy and personal outcome expectation) can exert significant and positive effects on solvers’ participation, although solvers’ personal cognition has no significant influence on their breadth of participation. Our findings demonstrate that extrinsic motivations (i.e., monetary reward and gain face) and intrinsic motivation (i.e., enjoyment) are positively associated with solvers’ self-efficacy and personal outcome expectation in.