Norms, Rewards, and their Effect on the Motivation of Open Source Software Developers

In this study, we conduct a scenario experiment testing the effect of monetary rewards on intrinsic motivation of open source software (OSS) developers. While we observe no difference in intrinsic motivation between the payment and no payment scenario, total motivation increases when a monetary reward is offered. We find that self-reported interest increases in the payment scenario when there is a norm for payment, whereas it decreases when there is a norm for no payment. We conclude that, under certain preconditions, monetary rewards may well be used in OSS development.