title: Experimental study of informal rewards in peer production.
abstract: We test the effects of informal rewards in online peer production. Using a randomized, experimental design, we assigned editing awards or "barnstars" to a subset of the 1% most productive Wikipedia contributors. Comparison with the control group shows that receiving a barnstar increases productivity by 60% and makes contributors six times more likely to receive additional barnstars from other community members, revealing that informal rewards significantly impact individual effort.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, New York, United States of America. michael.restivo@stonybrook.edu
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Restivo
authors.forename: Arnout
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van de Rijt
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004526:Efficiency; D010379:Peer Group; D010380:Peer Review; D012107:Research Design; D012201:Reward; D061108:Social Media