Exploring the effects of different achievement goals on contributor participation in crowdsourcing

Purpose This study examines how contributors with different achievement goals participate under the influence of two common motivators/demotivators on crowdsourcing platforms, namely system design features and task nature. Design/methodology/approach A free simulation experiment was conducted among undergraduate students with the use of a crowdsourcing platform for two weeks. Findings The results indicate that contributors with a strong performance-approach goal get better scores and participate in more crowdsourcing tasks. Contributors with a strong mastery-avoidance goal participate in fewer heterogeneous tasks. Research limitations/implications Contributors with different achievement goals participate in crowdsourcing tasks to different extents under the influence of the two motivators/demotivators. The inclusion of the approach-avoidance dimension in the performance-mastery dichotomy enables demonstrating the influence of motivators/demotivators more specifically. This article highlights differentiation between the quality and the quantity of heterogeneous crowdsourcing tasks. Practical implications Management is advised to approach performance-approach people if a leaderboard and a point system are incorporated into their crowdsourcing platforms. Also, management should avoid offering heterogeneous tasks to mastery-avoidance contributors. System developers should take users' motivational goals into consideration when designing the motivators in their systems. Originality/value The study sheds light on habitual achievement goals, which are relatively stable in comparison to contributors' motives and states. The relationships between achievement goals and motivators/demotivators are more persistent across time. This study informs system designers' decisions to include appropriate motivators for sustained contributor participation.