What Makes Geeks Tick? A Study of Stack Overflow Careers
Résumé
Many online platforms rely on users to voluntarily provide content. What motivates users to contribute content for free however is not well understood. In this paper, we use a revealed preference
approach to show that career concerns play an important role in user contributions to Stack Overflow,
the largest online Q&A community. We investigate how activities that can enhance a user’s reputation
vary before and after the user finds a new job. We contrast this with activities that do not improve a user’s
reputation. After finding a new job, users contribute 23.7% less in reputation-generating activity. By contrast, they reduce their non-reputation-generating activity by only 7.4% after finding a new job. These
findings suggest that users contribute to Stack Overflow in part because they perceive this as a way to
improve future employment prospects. We provide direct evidence against alternative explanations such
as integer constraints, skills mismatch, and dynamic selection effects.
Domaines
Economies et finances
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)