Contemporaneous effects of gamified reward specificity on knowledge contribution: Evidence from a Q&A community

Abstract

This study investigates the contemporaneous effects of virtual badges on knowledge contribution in a Question and Answer (Q&A) community. Drawing on regulatory fit theory, we propose a conceptual framework of gamified reward specificity to explain how winning some types of badges can stimulate users’ contemporaneous knowledge contributions more likely than others. This study empirically assesses such contemporaneous effects by conducting logistic regression analyses on the data collected from Stack Overflow. Our findings suggest that attaining a specific badge can increase users’ contemporaneous knowledge contributions related to that badge while earning a non-specific badge can decrease such contemporaneous contributions. These findings contribute a new perspective to the existing literature and address overlooked aspects of gamification practices, offering innovative insights into designing gamified reward systems more effectively in Q&A communities.