Motivating social sharing of e-business content: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, or crowding-out effect?

Extrinsic Motivation vs. Intrinsic Motivation: Key Factors Influencing Farmers' Land Quality Protection Behavior in China

The crowding effect of individual behavior motivation is a focal point in various disciplines, such as economics and social psychology. Understanding the motivation crowding effect in the context of pro-environmental behavior of farmers is crucial for formulating agricultural environmental policies. However, there is limited knowledge about the motivation crowding effect on farmers' land quality protection behavior, especially in developing countries. This study employs stratified regression models, propensity score matching models, seemingly unrelated regression models, and simple slope analysis methods to analyze the impact of extrinsic motivations (external incentives such as increasing farming income and production yield) and intrinsic motivations (internal drives such as personal satisfaction and responsibility) on farmers' land quality protection behavior, as well as the motivation crowding effect between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. The analysis is based on survey data from 1064 smallholder farmers in five provinces in China: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu. The results indicate that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations have a positive impact on farmers' land quality protection behavior. Notably, extrinsic motivation exhibits a crowding-out effect on intrinsic motivation, suggesting a motivation crowding effect. While promoting farmers' land quality protection behavior through economic incentives is a feasible short-term solution, it may not effectively foster the long-term formation of such behaviors. Given the current context of severe land pollution, alleviating this issue through economic incentives represents a short-term policy approach. Thus, transitioning from short-term to long-term solutions by enhancing farmers' intrinsic motivation to promote farmers' land quality protection behavior is essential for the government to consider in future land protection policy formulation.

What shapes food waste behaviors? New insights from a comprehensive action determination model

The sharp increase in food waste poses a serious threat to food security and environmental sustainability. However, most existing studies have investigated the determinants of food waste behaviors in a separate behavioral process without considering the potential impacts of different factors in an integrated process. To narrow this gap, a comprehensive action determination model (CADM), which integrates network embeddedness and incentive measures, was constructed to explore the impact of various determinants in different processes on food waste behaviors, using data collected from 913 residents in eastern China via an online survey. The empirical results showed that environmental concern was the largest positive factor in predicting personal norms (β = 0.80, p < 0.001), followed by network embeddedness. With the habitual process considered, residents with ingrained waste habits were more likely to waste food (β = 0.38, p < 0.001). Moreover, the normative process alleviates behavioral decisions via intentions to reduce food waste. This study confirmed the differences in the situational process and suggested that menu tips increase food waste behaviors, while incentive measures reinforce the influence of intentions on behavior. We therefore address the insufficient ingredients on the effects of different processes on behavior and provide a new perspective for formulating behavioral intervention policies.

Promoting Mental Health on Social Media: A Content Analysis of Organizational Tweets

This study analyzed tweets posted over 1 year from three mental-health organizations in the United States, along with audience engagement data of comments, retweets, and likes. The results revealed that tweets focused on mental illnesses or mental health received more engagement than those that emphasized event promotion or relationship building. In addition, there were more gain-framed than loss-framed messages, although the latter triggered more public engagement. Thematic framing was used more frequently than episodic framing and related to higher levels of engagement. Call-to-action (CTA), other audience engaging methods and multimedia strategies were used in various frequencies in these tweets; and the use of CTA, other engaging methods, photos/pictures, and external links, but not videos, were positively related to public engagement. Theoretical contributions and practical implications regarding using social media for mental health promotion were offered.

Motivational Understanding of MOOC Learning: The Impacts of Technology Fit and Subjective Norms

This study examines the mechanisms underlying the relationship between motivation and massive open online course (MOOC) learning intention, and the contextual moderators that affect this mechanism. Drawing on motivational theory and the related literature, this study investigates how motivation affects students' intention to learn with MOOCs and the related meditation and moderation effects. The findings of our study show that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations have a significant influence on intention to learn with MOOCs. In addition, the results also suggest that the relationship between extrinsic motivation and intention to learn is mediated by the technology fit perceived by learners but not the relationship between intrinsic motivation and intention to learn. Furthermore, the relationships between both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and intention to learn are moderated by subjective norms. This study enriches the extant literature on the impact of technology fit and subjective norms on MOOC learning. Few studies have focused on how students can be effectively encouraged to take MOOCs. Given the lack of theoretical and empirical research, this study developed a theoretical model and conducted an empirical study to fill the research gap.

Sharing Reward Program Based on Face Consciousness in Social Media

Purpose

In social marketing, sharing reward program (SRP) is a common way to improve the marketing effect. However, few studies have explored the impact of consumers' self-presentation and face consciousness on enterprise SRP. This study aims to explore the influence of these two factors on the optimal SRP.

Methods

A Stackelberg game between enterprises, sharers and potential consumers is developed to study the impact of sharers' face consciousness on enterprise's SRP. In order to discuss the impact of face consciousness on SRP in detail, we introduced status identity of commodity information, sharer's self-presentation preference and commodity price as exogenous variables in the research.

Results

The results have shown that when the face consciousness of sharers is high, enterprises are advised to adopt the strategy of low reward and low requirement. But when the face consciousness is low, it would be better for them adopt the strategy of high reward and high requirement. In addition, with the low face consciousness, the optimal SRP is also affected by the relationship between the price of goods and the number of WeChat friends of sharers.

Conclusion

The results suggest that when enterprises make incentive policies, considering consumers' self-presentation preference and face consciousness, the profit level can be effectively improved.

User Engagement and User Loyalty Under Different Online Healthcare Community Incentives: An Experimental Study

The online healthcare community (OHC) has attained rapid development in recent years in which users are facilitated to exchange disease information and seek medical treatment. However, users’ motivation of participation in OHCs is still under investigation. Taking the perspective of user perceived value, this paper examined the impacts of different incentive levels including identity incentive, privilege incentive, and material incentive on user perceived value, user engagement, and user loyalty. To test the proposed hypotheses, the study adopted the methods of the between-subjects experiment and questionnaire. Based on the data analysis by ANOVA and structural equation model, the results show there are significant differences in the impacts of different incentive levels on users’ perceived value. Most of the incentive measures exert significant effects on simple user hedonic value and community identity value. Accordingly, the research findings suggest that affective support value and self-health management value demonstrate more importance for user engagement and user loyalty. Therefore, OHCs should try to improve users’ affective support value and self-health management value which are the ultimate aims of the OHCs. Our study sheds some light on profoundly understanding the design of incentive mechanism of OHC and contributes to the research of OHC services.

Designing Promotional Incentives to Embrace Social Sharing: Evidence from Field and Online Experiments

Despite the increasing connectivity between consumers and the large volume of social shares supported by digital technologies, there is an absence of research systematically investigating how firms can design promotional incentives that jointly consider their consumers as both purchasers and sharers. In this study, we examine whether and how firms can leverage consumers’ social connections and engage consumers to share promotional incentives. In collaboration with a leading online deal platform, we report a large-scale randomized field experiment to test the effectiveness of different incentive designs (varying in the shareability and scarcity of promotion codes) in driving social sharing senders’ purchases and successful referrals. We find that the different incentive designs have distinct impacts on the purchase and referral outcomes. Specifically, providing senders with one non-shareable promo code significantly increases their own purchase likelihood, compared to the other experimental groups. In contrast, senders who receive one shareable promo code are less likely to purchase themselves yet are more likely to make successful referrals. Surprisingly, the incentive design with two promo codes containing one non-shareable code and one shareable code increases neither the senders’ purchases nor their successful referrals. Managerially, we estimate that although the one non-shareable promo code group derives the highest net revenue for the experimental period, the one shareable promo code group derives the highest customer lifetime value for the firm from the new customers acquired through the successful referrals. We further conducted two online experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk that replicate the field experiment’s findings and explore the underlying mechanisms of the observed relationships. We find that exclusivity perception and social motives triggered by the incentive designs with one promo code mediate their effects on senders’ self-purchases and successful referrals, respectively, and explain the ineffectiveness of two promo codes. Our study contributes to the bodies of literature on IT-enabled social sharing and social promotions, providing implications for firms on how to design promotional incentives that accommodate the dual role of consumers as purchasers and sharers.

Opioids on Twitter: A Content Analysis of Conversations regarding Prescription Drugs on Social Media and Implications for Message Design

As many as 130 lives are lost every day in the United States due to prescription drug misuse. The opioid crisis is gripping the country and disrupting the lives of millions. Not surprisingly, health organizations are desperately seeking solutions to educate and inform people regarding the issue, often seeking the help of various social media platforms. In this study, we do a content analysis of Twitter messages related to opioids in order to understand the factors that are most likely to influence content sharing. Our findings indicate that structure, source, and the actual content of the post all influence the likelihood of the content's being shared. Specifically, certain types of content enhanced the likelihood of content sharing whereas use of the term "addiction" discouraged retweeting. Theoretical and practical implications for message design are discussed.

Information-Sharing Behavior on WeChat Moments: The Role of Anonymity, Familiarity, and Intrinsic Motivation

Information-sharing behavior is affected by identity recognition perception. The current study aims to delve into the impact of familiarity and anonymity on information-sharing behavior, and the mediating role of intrinsic motivations on WeChat Moments. We hypothesized a mediator role of intrinsic motivations in the relationship between an individual's perceptions and information sharing. Based on the self-determination theory, a model was created and tested using a sample of 531 frequent users. In this study, these users were asked to use WeChat Moments, the most popular mobile private social networking site in China. The results demonstrate the significance of familiarity and identifiability in an interpersonal relationship, when using social networking sites. Moreover, the influence of perceived anonymity on information-sharing behavior, which is entirely mediated by intrinsic motivation has been validated from an empirical perspective. Our findings extend previous studies by showing the totally mediated effect of perceived anonymity on information-sharing behavior on WeChat Moments and the influential mechanism of intrinsic motivation. The results will inform researchers about the importance of incorporating the interpersonal structural features and intrinsic motivation of social networking sites into future studies on online information-sharing behavior. Important ways to promote attention and share information involve building a familiar relationship with communities and equipping oneself with off-line relations. Final indications for future developments are provided, with a special emphasis on the development of these findings in various social networking sites contexts.

The moderating effect of employee motivation on workplace surveillance and employee engagement amongst employees at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority

Orientation: The study took place at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), an organisation noted to be undergoing varying challenges because of the macro-environmental issues in Zimbabwe.Research purpose: The study examined the moderating effect of employee motivation on workplace surveillance and employee engagement amongst employees at ZIMRA.Motivation for the study: Calls exist for studies that explore how organisations can assist their employees, especially within contexts deemed to be difficult to operate in.Research approach/design and method: This study adopted the positivist research philosophy and used the quantitative research approach. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 364 respondents using an online survey. The study utilised the principles of structural equation modelling in analysing the data.Main findings: The results are twofold. Firstly, the results of the study show the existence of a relationship between workplace surveillance and employee engagement. Secondly, this relationship is partially moderated by employee motivation.Practical/managerial implications: There is need for ZIMRA management to involve employees when making decisions on issues about workplace surveillance. Such involvement may have an effect on outcomes such as engagement and motivation within the workplace.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to the body of knowledge by noting that employee motivation moderates the relationship between workplace surveillance and employee engagement. Thus, the presence of workplace surveillance calls for more investment in employee motivation if employees are to remain engaged with their work.

Exploring Users’ Self-Disclosure Intention on Social Networking Applying Novel Soft Computing Theories

In recent years, users have increasingly focused on the privacy of social networking sites (SNS); users have reduced their self-disclosure intention. To attract users, SNS rely on active platforms that collect accurate user information, even though that information is supposed to be private. SNS marketers must understand the key elements for sustainable operation. This study aims to understand the influence of motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic) and self-disclosure on SNS through soft computing theories. First, based on a survey of 1108 users of SNS, this study used a dominance-based rough set approach to determine decision rules for self-disclosure intention on SNS. In addition, based on 11 social networking industry experts’ perspectives, this study validated the influence between the motivation attributes by using Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). In this paper, the decision rules of users’ self-disclosure preference are presented, and the influences between motivation attributes are graphically depicted as a flow network graph. These findings can assist in addressing real-world decision problems, and can aid SNS marketers in anticipating, evaluating, and acting in accord with the self-disclosure motivations of SNS users. In this paper, practical and research implications are offered.