What Drives Users to Go Beyond Mere Contribution? – The Role of Perceived Ownership

Abstract

As digitization proceeds, relying on user communities to gain knowledge has become increasingly important for many firms. If firms want to benefit from such user communities providing knowledge and ideas, it is essential that users do not only contribute to the community but also give up some of their intellectual property rights so that others can build on their contributions in a cumulative manner. While previous research has shown that users can benefit from allowing others to build on their contributions, not all users decide to do so. We argue that this is due to perceived psychological ownership of the product, which can result in territorial responses and is particularly strong among users with high levels of reputation among community members. On the other hand, high levels of reciprocity among users shift the perceived locus of product ownership from the individual user to the community, and thus increase the likelihood that users give up some of their intellectual property rights and allow others to build on their contributions. We use data from the 3D-printable design community Thingiverse to test our claims and find evidence that is consistent with our theoretical reasoning.