Intrinsic self-rewards for participating in household sector user innovation: Lessons from a survey of Chinese residents

Abstract

Household sector (HHS) user innovation is recognized as a prevalent type of innovation, initiated for personal use and unrelated to pecuniary transactions. Considering its non-pecuniary logic, this study addresses the non-pecuniarily self-driven motivations of HHS user innovation. We explore how altruistic intrinsic self-rewards (ISRs) motivate HHS user innovation by affecting individual relatedness, competence, and autonomy, based on a large-scale survey in China. Furthermore, we incorporate a social facilitation factor, i.e., the partnership (involving partnership size and partnership closeness), and investigate its moderating effects on the relationship between altruistic ISRs and HHS user innovation. The results indicate that individuals participating in HHS user innovation are positively motivated by altruistic ISRs. Besides, the partnership size strengthens the effect of altruistic ISRs on HHS user innovation while the partnership closeness dilutes the effect. By uncovering this motivation antecedent and the social facilitation conditions, this study provides theoretical contributions to and managerial implications for HHS user innovation.