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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Challenging Challenge: The Ambivalent Impact of Challenge on Intrinsic Motivation Effectiveness in Digital Co-Creation

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While most literature on co-creation shows a consistently positive impact of challenge on motivational processes, the authors of this study examine situational ambiguous effects. Consequently, the exalted status of challenge in practice and research is called into question. This research combines psychological needs inferred from Self-Determination Theory with challenge derived from Flow Theory to explore direct and interactive effects on motivation and participation in digital co-creation. As an example of concrete consumer innovation the authors applied the concept of Threadless in order to test propositions for co-creation settings. Threadless is a real online platform that calls up for submitting consumer-generated designs. The findings reveal an ambivalent role of challenge, depending on consumer traits, which contributes to motivation research and offers potential applications for practice and research.