Motivations in OSS Communities: The Mediating Role of Effort Intensity and Goal Commitment

As a community-based innovation, the Open Source Software (OSS) development phenomenon has received great attention from both researchers and practitioners. Understanding what and how certain factors affect OSS project participants’ involvement and contribution is of significance to facilitate OSS project success. The current paper investigates the black box of motivations’ effects on participants’ performance in OSS projects. In particular, we draw upon self-determination theory and examine how task effort (i.e., effort intensity and goal commitment) mediates the relationships between a spectrum of motivations (i.e., intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, social identification and ideology conviction) and individual performance. The research model is largely supported by survey data from 204 participants of OSS projects. Theoretical contribution and managerial implications of this study are discussed.