The Power of Rewards: How Motivation and Brand Awareness Shape Participation in Ideation Contests
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2025-07-01
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en
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Ideation contests enable firms to gather innovative ideas from external individuals (solvers). However, the findings of earlier studies on how reward type influences participation intention and brand awareness in this relationship are inconsistent. This study employed a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design among 135 Dutch respondents who evaluated a cookie flavour contest with either monetary or non-monetary rewards and either a familiar or unfamiliar brand. Established scales captured brand awareness, motivation, and participation intention.
A one-way ANOVA, ANCOVA and Hayes PROCESS analyses were used and revealed no direct effect of reward type on participation intention. When motivation was added, reward type indirectly predicted participation intention, indicating a full mediation effect. Brand awareness did not moderate either the direct relationship or the mediated pathway.
The results suggest that rewards boost participation intention only when aligned with the solver's motivational needs. Brand awareness did not affect these relationships. Contest designers should, therefore, invest in designing contests that align with the solver's motivational needs, autonomy, competence and relatedness rather than solely relying on reward types or brand familiarity.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen