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The purpose of this paper is to examine intrinsic forms of motivation and particular incidents of play, socialisation, fun and amusement on an online crowdsourced citizen science platform. The paper also investigates gamised activity (Greenhill et al., 2014) as a form of intrinsic motivation adding a sense of play to work and tasks (Xu et al., 2012). These concepts are explored through close scrutiny of the online citizen science platform Zooniverse.org.

Qualitative techniques with an interpretivist approach are used to analyse online content found within citizen science platforms, related forums and social media by examining incidents of play, socialisation, fun and amusement to investigate how these aspects are applied as a form of user motivation.

The authors find that when users classify crowdsourced tasks voluntarily it does not matter how users are classifying as long as it is accurately. However, what does matter is why they are doing it particularly because of the complex processes that builds relationships between users and the platform. The authors present a conceptual model to enable deeper understandings of how forms of social interaction and play are motivating users contributing to citizen science project to participate in the online processes.

The findings of this paper provide practical implications for how citizen science, and also other crowdsourcing platforms, can engage with notions of play and gamification to motivate participation.

Using detailed examples of online content, the authors reveal how participants of the Zooniverse.org demonstrate aspects of “gamised” behaviour. The authors argue that the exploration of gaming as well as play provides evidence that contributing to citizen science projects can be both utilitarian and hedonic.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why and how sharing economy users switch from consumer (e.g. Airbnb guest) to provider (e.g. Airbnb host), and how this helps enrich self-determination theory.

The authors conducted an exploratory study with users who had been consumers (i.e. Airbnb guests) and had switched to being providers (i.e. Airbnb hosts).

Consumers switch to being providers across four phases: “catalysts”, “enablers”, “drivers” and “glue”. The authors identify various extrinsic and intrinsic motivations unique to the switch and map these against motivators postulated by self-determination theory.

The authors propose a four-phase process through which consumers become providers. The present study enriches self-determination theory by showing how users' psychosocial needs are addressed through a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are unique to the role switch. The authors further show how the importance of the three key psychosocial self-determination needs varies through the switch process, thus providing a more nuanced understanding of users' drive for self-determination.

This study offers several recommendations to help sharing economy platforms improve their processes and communication to encourage a greater number of consumers to switch roles and become providers. These recommendations address two aspects: (1) encouraging consumers to switch roles and become providers (i.e. acquisition) and following this (2) encouraging providers to continue to perform that role (i.e. retention).

Much research has investigated why users become consumers (e.g. Airbnb guests) or providers (e.g. Airbnb hosts) in the sharing economy. However, research to date has not fully embraced the two-sided nature of the sharing economy. Therefore, this is the first paper to explore why and how consumers switch roles and become providers in the sharing economy, and how this helps enrich self-determination theory.

This study integrates self-determination theory (SDT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore how gamification increases users' motivation and intention to use personal financial management (PFM) apps, and how it facilitates their adoption.

Data from 208 users of the Mint app were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results showed that gamifying PFM apps satisfies users' needs for competence and autonomy and enhances their autonomous motivation to use them. Users' motivation increases their perceptions of ease of use and usefulness of the apps and causes them to develop more favorable attitudes toward them. The findings also confirmed a relationship between users' attitudes toward PFM apps and the behavioral intention to use them.

To investigate the generalizability of results, studies using other PFM apps would be useful. The cross-sectional nature of the research also limits its causal inference.

This research provides support for the use of gamification in PFM apps and offers suggestions that may help fintech companies and banks to persuade users to engage with their apps.

Although gamification is a trending topic, few studies have explored its use in the finance industry. Drawing on SDT and the TAM, this study extends previous research and adds new insights into the effects of gamification in this context.

Building upon uses and gratifications (UG) theory and social exchange theory, the current study establishes a theoretical model to examine the underlying relationship between customer motivations, active participation and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) and purchase intentions on WeChat.

The data were gathered in a web-based survey of 301 WeChat users in mainland China. To empirically verify the proposed hypotheses, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed using online data.

Path analysis outcomes demonstrate that functional, hedonic and social motivations positively affect WeChat users' active participation. In addition, active participation significantly influences e-WOM intention while showing no correlation with purchase intention.

Theoretically, this article can enrich the extant system of relevant theories and offer a fresh perspective for further research on the generation of consumers' e-WOM intention and purchase intention in the WeChat context. Practically, the research outcomes provide insight for companies on how to motivate customers to participate in online activities, which subsequently improve WeChat users' willingness in conducting e-WOM communication and making purchase decisions.

Although mobile social media could serve as an influential marketing vehicle for individuals' engagement in social and commercial activities in today's mobile-matured environment, the substantial impact of active engagement on the relationship between customer motivation and purchase intention remains insufficiently explored. The outcomes not only contribute to the current body of knowledge, but also offer several managerial guidance for companies that pay attention to mobile social media marketing in a contemporary mobile media-saturated society.

All organisations may not have the same motivations for investing in records management. For some organisations the benefits of records management are more important than for others. It can be hypothesised that an organisation with a “natural” motivation for records management controls records processes more thoroughly than an organisation without a similar motivation. However, it is not understood how organisational context affects records management. In this paper the aim is to examine what motivations there are for an organisation to invest in records management especially in a mobile working environment.

Aspects explored were ISO standards, and record users in three different organisations. The empirical data were gathered by interviews with 25 respondents and qualitative analysis of the ISO 15489 standard content. Results from the interviews were compared with the ISO standard. For this purpose, quantitative analysis was used to identify and categorise motivations given in the standard.

Respondents highlighted information‐based and work‐process related ISO motivations. In general, internal motivations were emphasised and cultural‐societal goals were practically not mentioned at all. For mobile users records management is a tool to manage information and support their own and colleagues' work processes. The organisation's function affects the nature of the records produced, and this has an impact on users' attitude towards and knowledge of records management.

Analysis of motivations in the ISO 15489‐1 standard gives a new perspective to organisational records management. The motivations complement the picture given by studies of records usage in organisations.

This paper aims to identify the relationship between participation motivation, satisfaction and exercise adherence intention of golf range users on the basis of self-determination theory.

For this purpose, the authors proposed research questions and a conceptual research model as well. Then, the authors surveyed users of golf ranges located in Seoul Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi-do province.

By applying convenience sampling, the authors received a total of 313 questionnaires. Results were as follows. First, among the participation motivation sub-factors, health-oriented motivation, achievement motivation, pleasure-oriented motivation and self-displayed motivation had a significant effect on emotional satisfaction, while achievement motivation and pleasure-orientation motivation had a significant effect on performance satisfaction. Second, the following participation motivation factors had a significant effect on exercise adherence intention: health-orientation motivation, achievement motivation and pleasure-orientation motivation. Third, among the satisfaction factors, emotional satisfaction and performance satisfaction both had a significant effect on exercise adherence intention.

This is one of the first papers to examine the relationships that exist between golf range users’ participation motivation, satisfaction and exercise adherence intention.

Providing operational approach to end-users' motivational tendencies in housing facilitates user-centered approach enhancing person-environment congruence. The operational approach is highly critical in case of inaccessibility of end-users in decision making, i.e. mass housing. Therefore, this study aims at explaining end-users' housing motivations from their housing attributes preferences, through a theoretical framework developed based on Maslow's theory. The investigation was carried out by using a self-administered questionnaire conducted on 127 Iranian postgraduate students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and their spouse who lived alongside them. They were selected from those who lived more than one year in mass housing apartments in Malaysia. Using exploratory factor analysis, the housing attributes preferences were analyzed to underlie the latent structure and relations among them; the extracted factors were also labeled based on the different level of needs. Then, conducting one sample t-test hierarchical tendencies among the different motivational factors were identified. Referring to Maslow's theory to explain the concept and characteristics of housing needs results in identification of two different categories of housing attributes in association with the different level of needs. Accordingly, primary levels of needs that associate with relatively tangible and concrete attributes are more likely to be content-specific and predictable. The higher levels of needs that associate with relatively complicated and abstract attributes are more likely to be problematical, confusing, and non-predictable.

The purpose of this study is to investigate users' underlying motivations for engaging in social networking through online social networking services (SNS) compared with their behaviour. It seeks to examine the differences between USA, and Korean users.

The study surveyed SNS users in the USA and Korea to determine the key differences between the two countries. Survey questions, developed in English and Korean, were presented in each country to explore the influences of various factors from the modified Technology Acceptance Model on SNS user dimensions. The analytic design methods were based on structural equation modelling and applied to the data gathered. The TAM factors of SNS were analysed, focusing on the differences in motives between the two countries.

The results of the online survey of SNS users validated the proposed theoretical model's ability to explain and predict user acceptance of SNS very well. While the results illustrate the importance of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, the two countries showed different sets of motivations, providing useful implications for theory and practice.

Based on the results of the study, practical applications for marketing strategies in online SNS markets and theoretical applications for cross‐national studies are recommended.

Despite the burgeoning interest in SNS, only a few studies have explored the acceptance of SNS in a cross‐national manner, leading to a paucity of information on how different cultures influence acceptance of online services.

This research investigates the detailed mechanisms of how gamification affordances influence intrinsic and internalized extrinsic motivation and ultimately improve the quality and quantity of knowledge contribution.

Survey responses from 154 users of Stack Overflow in Portuguese were analyzed by the partial least squares–structural equation modeling approach to validate the research model.

Challenge and goal setting influence individuals to reach the flow state, which increases the quantity of knowledge contribution. Rewards enhance the quality of knowledge contribution through perceived self-worth. Social comparison increases perceived reputation, but its impact does not ultimately lead to knowledge contribution.

The current study differentiated types of motivation and dimensions of knowledge contribution when exploring the effects of gamification affordances. This perspective was proven helpful to understand the various gamification affordances' influence on knowledge contribution.

This study intended to identify and categorize the drivers of using online English learning resources (OELR) and to understand OELR's impacts.

The authors conducted an online survey, obtained complete responses from 157 OELR users and used structural equation modeling (SEM) for hypothesis testing.

Most utilitarian and hedonic drivers lead to positive perceptions of OELR, which in turn positively contribute to continuance intention (CI). Two counterintuitive findings were obtained. First, functionality was negatively related to the perception of ease of use. Second, perceived ease of use (PEOU) was not related to CI to use OELR.

This study has implications as follows: (1) complexity of the functions of OELR may deter rather than attract users, (2) ease of use of OELR is not directly positively related to CIs and (3) users may seek practical benefits (utilitarian) and experiential learning processes (hedonic) when using OELR.

The authors' study has theoretical significance by being the first to caution that excessive functionality or complexity in assisting learning tools would likely hinder further use of OELR. The practical significance of this finding is that the finding highlights two factors (perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived enjoyment) that could effectively increase OELR use.