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Reputation and Reliability in Collective Goods

Author

Listed:
  • Denise Anthony

    (Department of Sociology, HB6104, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, danthony@dartmouth.edu)

  • Sean W. Smith

    (Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755)

  • Timothy Williamson

    (Ning, Inc., Palo Alto CA)

Abstract

An important organizational innovation enabled by the revolution in information technologies is `open source' production which converts private commodities into essentially public goods. Similar to other public goods, incentives for reputation and group identity appear to motivate contributions to open source projects, overcoming the social dilemma inherent in producing such goods. In this paper we examine how contributor motivations affect the type of contributions made to the open source online encyclopedia Wikipedia . As expected, we find that registered participants, motivated by reputation and commitment to the Wikipedia community, make many contributions with high reliability. Surprisingly, however, we find the highest reliability from the vast numbers of anonymous `Good Samaritans' who contribute only once. Our findings of high reliability in the contributions of both Good Samaritans and committed `zealots' suggest that open source production succeeds by altering the scope of production such that a critical mass of contributors can participate.

Suggested Citation

  • Denise Anthony & Sean W. Smith & Timothy Williamson, 2009. "Reputation and Reliability in Collective Goods," Rationality and Society, , vol. 21(3), pages 283-306, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:21:y:2009:i:3:p:283-306
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463109336804
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kevin Crowston & Nicolas Jullien & Felipe Ortega, 2013. "Is Wikipedia Inefficient? Modelling Effort and Participation in Wikipedia," Post-Print hal-00947731, HAL.
    2. Jana Gallus, 2015. "Fostering Voluntary Contributions to a Public Good A Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment at Wikipedia," CREMA Working Paper Series 2015-05, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    3. Slivko, Olga, 2018. ""Brain gain" on Wikipedia: Immigrants return knowledge home," ZEW Discussion Papers 18-008, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Aelita Skarzauskiene & Monika Mačiulienė, 2021. "How to Build Sustainable Online Communities: Implications from Lithuania Urban Communities Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-13, August.
    5. Zhao, Sesia J. & Zhang, Kem Z.K. & Wagner, Christian & Chen, Huaping, 2013. "Investigating the determinants of contribution value in Wikipedia," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 83-92.
    6. Robert D. Lieberthal & Juan Leon, 2015. "Engaging Health Professionals in Health Economics: A Human Capital Informed Approach for Adults Learning Online," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 45-55, March.
    7. Michael Kummer & Olga Slivko & Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang, 2020. "Unemployment and Digital Public Goods Contribution," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 801-819, September.
    8. Karl-Dieter Opp, 2013. "Norms and rationality. Is moral behavior a form of rational action?," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 74(3), pages 383-409, March.
    9. Jessica Alzamora-Ruiz & Carlos Guerrero-Medina & Myriam Martínez-Fiestas & Jaime Serida-Nishimura, 2020. "Why People Participate in Collaborative Consumption: An Exploratory Study of Motivating Factors in a Latin American Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-25, March.
    10. Nicolas Jullien, 2012. "What We Know About Wikipedia: A Review of the Literature Analyzing the Project(s)," Post-Print hal-00857208, HAL.
    11. Amira Rezgui & Nicolas Jullien, 2016. "Online Communities, Teams Characteristics, and Knowledge Quality," Post-Print hal-01532045, HAL.
    12. Maha Shaikh & Emmanuelle Vaast, 2023. "Algorithmic Interactions in Open Source Work," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(2), pages 744-765, June.
    13. Sands, Sean & Ferraro, Carla & Campbell, Colin & Kietzmann, Jan & Andonopoulos, Vasiliki Vicki, 2020. "Who shares? Profiling consumers in the sharing economy," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 22-33.
    14. Steven J. H. Shiau & Chi-Yo Huang & Chia-Lee Yang & Jer-Nan Juang, 2018. "A Derivation of Factors Influencing the Innovation Diffusion of the OpenStreetMap in STEM Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-29, September.

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