Motivation, Social Identity and Ideology Conviction in OSS Communities: The Mediating Role of Effort Intensity and Goal Commitment

Research has found salient individual and social motivating factors that influence participants’ involvement and contribution to OSS projects. Yet, these factors were examined independently from each other, and the mechanisms of their impacts were unclear. This paper is a first attempt to have a better and complete understanding of the phenomenon. We theorize an integrated model on the effects of personal motivation, social identity and ideology conviction on individuals’ task performance in and satisfaction with open source software projects. In particular, we posit that these motivating factors are translated into performance and satisfaction through effort intensity and goal commitment. Also, we contend that task performance positively affects an individual’s satisfaction with a specific OSS project.