Loxley Sijia Wang
John Riedl
ABSTRACT
Dedicated and productive members who actively contribute to community efforts are crucial to the success of online volunteer groups such as Wikipedia. What predicts member productivity? Do productive members stay longer? How does involvement in multiple projects affect member contribution to the community? In this paper, we analyze data from 648 WikiProjects to address these questions. Our results reveal two critical trade-offs in managing online volunteer groups. First, factors that increase member productivity, measured by the number of edits on Wikipedia articles, also increase likelihood of withdrawal from contributing, perhaps due to feelings of mission accomplished or burnout. Second, individual membership in multiple projects has mixed effects. It decreases the amount of work editors contribute to both the individual projects and Wikipedia as a whole. It increases withdrawal for each individual project yet reduces withdrawal from Wikipedia. We discuss how our findings expand existing theories to fit the online context and inform the design of new tools to improve online volunteer work.
- Albanese, R. and Van Fleet, D.D. Rational Behavior in Groups: The Free-Riding Tendency. Academy of Management Review, 10, 2 (1985), 244--255.Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Arnold, H.J. and Feldman, D.C. A Multivariate Analysis of the Determinants of Job Turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 3 (1982), 350--360.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Arthur, J.B. Effects of Human Resource Systems on Manufacturing Performance and Turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 3 (1994), 670--687.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bakker, A.B., Van Der Zee, K.I., Lewig, K.A., and Dollard, M.F. The Relationship Between the Big Five Personality Factors and Burnout: A Study Among Volunteer Counselors. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 1 (2007), 31--50.Google Scholar
- Barron, D.N., West, E., and Hannan, M.T. A Time to Grow and a Time to Die: Growth and Mortality of Credit Unions in New York City, 1914--1990. American Journal of Sociology, 100, 2 (1994), 381--421.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Becker, G.S. A theory of the Allocation of Time. The Economic Journal, 75, 299 (1965), 493--517.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Beehr, T.A. and Gupta, N. A Note on the Structure of Employee Withdrawal. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 21, 1 (1978), 73--79.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bryk, A.S. and Raudenbush, S.W. Hierarchical Linear Models for Social and Behavioural Research: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications (1992).Google Scholar
- Burnham, K.P. and Anderson, D.R. Multimodel Inference: Understanding AIC and BIC in Model Selection. Sociological Methods Research, 33 (2004), 261--304.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Butler, B.S. Membership Size, Communication Activity, and Sustainability: A Resource-Based Model of Online Social Structures. Information Systems Research, 12, 4 (2001), 346--362. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Butler, B.S., Sproull, L., Kiesler, S., and Kraut, R.E. Community Effort in Online Groups: Who Does the Work and Why? In S. Weisband & L. Atwater (Eds.), Leadership at a Distance. Lawrence Erlbuam Associates (2007).Google Scholar
- Chen, J., Ren, Y., and Riedl, J. The effects of diversity on group productivity and member withdrawal in online volunteer groups. In Proc. CHI 2010, ACM Press (2010). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Cordes, C.L. and Dougherty, T.W. A Review and An Integration of Research on Job Burnout. Academy of Management Review, 18, 4 (1993), 621--656.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Cosley, D., Frankowski, D., Terveen, L., and Riedl, J. Using intelligent task routing and contribution review to help communities build artifacts of lasting value. In Proc. CHI 2006, ACM Press (2006). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Cotton, J.L. and Tuttle, J.M. Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research. Academy of Management Review, 11, 1 (1986), 55--70.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Cross, R. and Cummings, J.N. Tie and Network Correlates of Individual Performance in Knowledge-Intensive Work. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 6 (2004), 928--937.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Daniel, S.L. and Diamant, E.I. Network Effects in OSS Development: The Impact of Users and Developers on Project Performance. ICIS 2008 Proceedings.Google Scholar
- Farmer, S.M. and Fedor, D.B. Volunteer Participation and Withdrawal: A Psychological Contract Perspective on the Role of Expectations and Organizational Support. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 9 (1999), 349--368.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Griffeth, R.W., Hom, P.W., and Gaertner, S. A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents and Correlates of Employee Turnover: Update, Moderator Tests, and Research Implications for the Next Millennium. Journal of Management, 26, 3 (2000), 463--488.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Halfaker, A., Kittur, A., Riedl, J. Don't Bite the Newbies: How Reverts Affect the Quantity and Quality of Wikipedia Work. In WikiSym 2011. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Haythornthwaite, C. Crowds and Communities: Light and Heavyweight Models of Peer Production. In Proc. HICSS 2009, IEEE (2009). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Hofmann, DA., Jacobs, R., and Gerras, S.J. Mapping individual performance over time. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 2 (1992), 185--195.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Kittur, A. and Kraut, R.E. Harnessing the Wisdom of Crowds in Wikipedia: Quality Through Coordination. In Proc. CSCW 2008, ACM Press (2008). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kittur, A., and Kraut, R.E. Beyond Wikipedia: coordination and conflict in online production groups. In Proc. CSCW 2010, ACM Press (2010). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kittur, A., Chi, E., Pendleton, B.A., Suh, B., and Mytkowicz, T. Power of the Few vs. Wisdom of the Crowd: Wikipedia and the Rise of the Bourgeoisie. Alt.CHI at CHI 2007.Google Scholar
- Kittur, A., Suh, B., Pendleton, B.A., and Chi, E.H. He says, she says: conflict and coordination in Wikipedia. In Proc. CHI 2007, ACM Press (2007). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lyubomirsky, S. and Nolen-Hoeksema, S. Effects of Self-Focused Rumination on Negative Thinking and Interpersonal Problem Solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1 (1995), 176--190.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Markus, M.L. Toward a "Critical Mass" Theory of Interactive Media. Communication Research, 14, 5 (1987), 491--511.Google Scholar
- McEvoy, G.M. and Cascio, W.F. Do Good or Poor Performers Leave? A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Performance and Turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 30, 4 (1987), 744--762.Google ScholarCross Ref
- McPherson, J.M., Popielarz, P.A., and Drobnic, S. Social Networks and Organizational Dynamics. American Psychological Review, 57, 2 (1992), 153--170.Google Scholar
- McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., and Cook, J.M. Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27 (2001), 415--444.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mitchell, T.R., Holtom, B.C., Lee, T.W., Sablynski, C.J., and Erez, M. 2001. Why People Stay: Using Job Embeddedness to Predict Voluntary Turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 6 (2001), 1102--1121.Google ScholarCross Ref
- O'Reilly, C.A., III, Caldwell, D.F., and Barnett, W.P. Work Group Demography, Social Integration, and Turnover. Administrative Science Quarterly, 34, 1 (1989), 21--37.Google Scholar
- Priedhorsky, R., Chen, J., Lam, S.K., Panciera, K., Terveen, L., and Riedl, J. Creating, Destroying, and Restoring Value in Wikipedia. In Proc. GROUP 2007, ACM Press (2007). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Randel, A.E. and Jaussi, K.S. Functional Background Identity, Diversity, and Individual Performance in Cross-Functional Teams. Academy of Management Journal, 46, 6 (2003), 763--774.Google Scholar
- Robles, G., Gonzalez-Barahona J.M., Michlmayr, M. Evolution of Volunteer Participation in Libre Software Projects: Evidence from Debian. In Proc. First International Conference on Open Source Systems 2005.Google Scholar
- Spencer, D.G. and Steers, R.M. Performance as a Moderator of the Job Satisfaction-Turnover Relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66 (1981), 511--514.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sturman, M.C. Searching for the Inverted U-Shaped Relationship Between Time and Performance: Meta-Analyses of the Experience/Performance, Tenure/ Performance, and Age/Performance Relationships. Journal of Management, 9, 5 (2003), 609--640.Google Scholar
- Suh, B., Convertino, G., Chi., E.H., and Pirolli, P. The Singularity is Not Near: Slowing Growth of Wikipedia. In Proc. WikiSym2009, ACM Press (2009). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Taylor, L.C. Thousands of Editors Leaving Wikipedia. Thestar.com, Nov. 23 (2009). http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/technology/article/729552--thousands-of-editors-leaving-wikipedia.Google Scholar
- Wagner, W.G., Pfeffer, J., and O'Reilly, C.A., III. Organizational Demography and Turnover in Top-Management Group. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 1 (1984), 74--92.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Wilson, J. Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology, 26 (2000), 215--240.Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- Searching for the goldilocks zone: trade-offs in managing online volunteer groups
Recommendations
Content is King, Leadership Lags: Effects of Prior Experience on Newcomer Retention and Productivity in Online Production Groups
CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsOrganizers of online groups often struggle to recruit members who can most effectively carry out the group's activities and remain part of the group over time. In a study of a sample of 30,000 new editors belonging to 1,054 English WikiProjects, we ...
The effects of diversity on group productivity and member withdrawal in online volunteer groups
CHI '10: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsThe "wisdom of crowds" argument emphasizes the importance of diversity in online collaborations, such as open source projects and Wikipedia. However, decades of research on diversity in offline work groups have painted an inconclusive picture. On the ...
Predicting Member Productivity and Withdrawal from Pre-Joining Attachments in Online Production Groups
CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social ComputingProductive and dedicated members are critical to the success of online production communities like Wikipedia. Many communities organize in subgroups where members voluntarily work on projects of shared interest. In this paper, we investigate how members'...
Comments