Prosocial Motivation Predicts Higher Work Engagement and Extra-Role Behavior, but Lower Productivity and Persistence on a Japanese Crowdsourcing Platform

In recent years, crowdsourcing has grown in popularity in Japan. However, little is knownregarding the motivation of Japanese crowd workers. In a preregistered study, we examinedthe impact of intrinsic and prosocial motivation on work engagement and objective workoutcomes among Japanese crowd workers. Data on several work-related outcomes wascollected through a self-report questionnaire on Lancers, the oldest Japanese crowdsourcingplatform. The performance and persistence of the participants was measured throughobjective indicators one month, as well as one year after data collection. Findings from asample of 357 participants revealed that both intrinsic and prosocial motivation positivelyinfluenced crowdsourcing work engagement, although they did not affect work accuracy (i.e.,response compliance). Prosocial motivation also predicted extra-role behaviour (i.e.,responding to optional open-ended questions) and extra-role effort (i.e., the length ofresponses to optional questions). However, prosocial motivation had a negative associationwith productivity and persistence, with participants high in prosocial motivation completingfewer micro-tasks per month/year and being less likely to maintain an active crowdsourcingaccount one year later. This study contributes to the literature on crowdsourcing workengagement revealing how intrinsic and prosocial motivation differently shape workoutcomes among Japanese crowdsourcing workers