Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the participation behaviors in the context of crowdsourcing projects from the perspective of gamification. Design/methodology/approach: This paper first proposed a model to depict the effect of four categories of game elements on three types of motivation based upon several motivation theories, which may, in turn, influence user participation. Then, 5 × 2 between-subject Web experiments were designed for collecting data and validating this model. Findings: Game elements which provide participants with rewards and recognitions or remind participants of the completion progress of their tasks may positively influence the extrinsic motivation, whereas game elements which can help create a fantasy scene may strengthen intrinsic motivation. Besides, recognition-kind and progress-kind game elements may trigger the internalization of extrinsic motivation. In addition, when a task is of high complexity, the effects from game elements on extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation will be less prominent, whereas the internalization of extrinsic motivation may benefit from the increase of task complexity. Originality/value: This study may uncover the motivation mechanism of several different kinds of game elements, which may help to find which game elements are more effective in enhancing engagement and participation in crowdsourcing projects. Besides, as task complexity is used as a moderator, one may be able to identify whether task complexity is able to influence the effects from game elements on motivations. Last, but not the least, this study will indicate the interrelationship between game elements, individual motivation and user participation, which can be adapted by other scholars.

Purpose: Understanding health experts' online free knowledge contribution behavior is vital for promoting health knowledge and improving health literacy. This study focuses on the spillover effects of different monetary incentive levels on health experts' free knowledge contribution behavior.Design/methodology/approach: In 2016, Zhihu Live and Zhi Hu were launched as two types of paid knowledge products on Zhihu.com, a hybrid knowledge exchange platform. Focusing on the policy impact of launching Zhihu Live and Zhi Hu, this study uses the difference-in-differences model to analyze the heterogeneous spillover effects of high-yield and low-yield monetary incentives on health experts' free knowledge contribution behavior.Findings: In the short term, the high-yield monetary incentive has positive spillover effects on the quantity and quality of free knowledge contribution while the low-yield monetary incentive generates opposite effects. In the long term, the effects of the high-yield monetary incentive remain significantly positive. The effect of the low-yield monetary incentive on the quantity of free knowledge contribution remains significantly negative, but its effect on the quality of free knowledge contribution is not significant.Originality/value: This study combines theories of reciprocity and resource limitation to study the spillover effects of different monetary incentive levels on health experts' online behavior. The short-term and long-term effects of different monetary incentive levels on health experts' online behavior are also explored.

Crowd rating derives a collective value based on massive homogeneous contributions from individual users, where using gamification design is a promising approach to encouraging users’ motivation and participation. Drawing upon self-determination theory and motivational affordances theory, this study investigates how different gamification objects, as building blocks for feedback-giving mechanics, affect users’ extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (i.e., compensation and enjoyment), which in turn affect their participation intention. We also examined the role of task complexity in moderating the gamified effects of feedback-giving mechanics. We conducted a four (gamification objects: leaderboards, progress, virtual characters, and plain) by two (task complexity: low and high) between-subject experiment with 402 subjects. The results suggested that feedback-giving as a critical gamification mechanic can motivate participants intrinsically or extrinsically. Specifically, leaderboards and progress positively influenced compensation, and leaderboards and virtual characters positively influenced enjoyment. Task complexity moderated the gamified effects of feedback-giving mechanics on compensation and enjoyment. With a higher task complexity, leaderboards even result in a higher level of enjoyment. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of feedback-giving mechanics in crowd rating systems, and practically, suggests that the design of feedback-giving and task complexity should be effectively integrated to reach compensational and enjoyable motivation to encourage user engagement in crowd rating activities.

Purpose: Due to the increasing demand for public services, as a new form of public governance, e-participation has emerged. Scholars from various disciplines have published plenty of research results on e-participation. This paper aims to reveal the research status frontiers directly by mapping knowledge domains. Design/methodology/approach: The authors take 1,322 articles on e-participation published in Web of Science from 2001 to 2017 as research object. They then run the information visualization software CiteSpace to drill deeper into the literature data. Findings: The study found that e-participation research has the obvious interdisciplinary feature; the author and institution cooperation networks with less internal cooperation are relatively sparse; the USA ranks first in the field of e-participation research, followed by the UK, with the other countries lagged behind; and e-participation through social media is gradually becoming the new research focus. Originality/value: Based on the objective data and information visualization technology, the research intuitively reveals the research status and development trend of e-participation.

Purpose: Customers' co-design behavior is an important source of knowledge for product innovation. Firms can regulate the focus of information interaction with customers to set goals and motivate their co-design behavior. Drawing on regulatory fit theory and construal level theory, the authors build a research model to study whether the fit between the regulatory focus of firms' task invitations (promotion focus vs prevention focus) and their feedback focus (self-focused vs other-focused) can enhance co-design behavior by improving customers' experiences (perceived meaning, active discovery and perceived empowerment).Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted two online between-subjects experiments to validate the proposed research model.Findings: The two online experiments reveal that customers' experiences are enhanced when the feedback focus is congruent with the regulatory focus of the firm's task invitations. Specifically, self-focused feedback has a stronger positive effect on customers' experiences in the prevention focus context. Other-focused feedback has a stronger positive effect on customers' experiences in the promotion focus context. Moreover, customers' experience significantly and positively affects co-design behavior (i.e. co-design effort and knowledge contribution).Originality/value: This work provides theoretical and practical implications for firms to improve the effectiveness of information interaction with their customers and eventually ensure the sustainability of co-design.

Purpose: The encrypted money market has attracted the attention of investors all over the world. Among the encrypted currency, bitcoin is undoubtedly the most popular. Because blockchain technology is the crucial support of bitcoin, exploring the relationship between bitcoin and the blockchain index is necessary. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses the Granger causality test to explore the correlation between bitcoin and the blockchain index. Furthermore, their volatility is analyzed by a GARCH-class model. Findings: The results show that no significant correlation exists between bitcoin and the blockchain index; external shocks aggravate the volatility of bitcoin and the blockchain index, and the volatility has a certain degree of sustainability; and blockchain index has obvious leverage, namely, its decline has a stronger impact. Originality/value: The volatility of bitcoin and the blockchain index is crucial for investors.