• Information Systems Review
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.197-220
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• 2019

This study aims to identify consumer motivations of open innovation project participation from digital transformation perspective. By extending a traditional intrinsic/extrinsic motivation framework, we propose a three-dimensional perspective of the self-driven, firm-driven, and sociality-driven motivations. This reveals the significance of the social effects of open innovation projects as an example of digital transformation by categorizing the motivations based on the 'influencer' of the motivation building and by highlighting the importance of sociality as an influencer. As a result, self-efficacy is identified as a key motivation when the influencer exists internally. Economic incentive and firm reputation are identified when the influencer exists externally. Finally, competition, peer evaluation and social contributions are identified when the influencer exists socially. The role of knowledge type sought through innovation projects is further introduced to explain its moderating effects on motivations. The study is validated in two steps. First, we investigate four cases of open innovation projects and examine what motivations are highlighted in each context. Second, we collect survey data from 203 online game users and ask them on their motivations. The results confirm most of our hypotheses and highlight the significance of sociality in the knowledge-seeking process in open innovation projects. This study largely contributes to digital transformation literature by extending the view of motivation and examining the moderating role of knowledge involved in the projects.