Open innovation web-based platforms: The impact of different forms of motivation on collaboration

Abstract Given that open innovation web-based platforms (OIPs) allow for the collaboration of individuals and companies, this paper focuses on exploring the motivations for participating and collaborating in OIPs. Extant studies are conflicting, especially with respect to the importance of the monetary reward as a motivation. Moreover, literature supports our premise from the individuals’ motivations analysis viewpoint, but not from the companies’ perspective. Finally, literature does not consider the differences related to different members and to different phases of the innovation process. First, we base the literature on open innovation on the Internet (crowdsourcing, peer production and open source) to identify the potential motivations. We then deeply analyse 116 OIPs to determine if the motivations can be a function of the phase of innovation and the dependency on members. We show that the design of the motivational system should take into consideration the different stages of the innovation process and that the OIPs should consider moving from ‘work place’ logic to ‘social place’ logic.