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Social motivations to pay for services: lessons from virtual communities

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Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between participant motivations on websites and voluntary payment for services on those websites. It seeks to identify potential mechanisms for website managers to improve the value of the website in the perception of visitors by leveraging the intrinsic motivations of users. A model of both economic and non-economic motivators is used to evaluate the potential for each type of factor to stimulate subscription for services. The findings show that subscription payments were significantly associated with non-economic motivators especially by those that are derived from social benefits. This suggests that mechanisms stimulating and satisfying social motivations in participants may help increase positive behaviours beyond those indicated by tangible benefits.

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Notes

  1. Alexa.com, accessed Sept. 2010

  2. http://chronicle.com/forums/

  3. http://www.slashdot.org/

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada

    Dale Ganley

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  1. Dale Ganley
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Correspondence to Dale Ganley.

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Responsible editor: Thomas Hess

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Ganley, D. Social motivations to pay for services: lessons from virtual communities. Electron Markets 21, 177–184 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-011-0067-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-011-0067-x

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