1Cademy - Study 2 Discussion

Concept

Study 2 Discussion

The most obvious result from this study was that specific, numeric goals led to higher contribution rates than non-specific ones
This finding is inconsistent with the collective effort model and social loafing because subjects in the group conditions contributed more than those in the individual conditions
Specific, challenging goals have been shown to be powerful motivators of online contributions, particularly when contributors are not part of a group
Assignment to a group condition in the context of a large, anonymous online community seemed to raise contribution levels
This study suggests that goals that are overly difficult may lead to reduced contributions, past research suggests effort plateaus
Providing an interface that facilitates elements of the collective effort model and goal-setting theory such as real-time feedback, member identifiability, group cohesion, and so forth, could enhance the effects observed in this study