From Winning to Giving: The Effect of Gold Medals in Innovation Contests
Prof. Jing WANG, Associate Professor of Information Systems, Department of ISOM, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Date: 27 May 2025 (Tuesday)
Time: 10:30 – 12:00
Venue: E22-2002
Host: Prof. Yingpeng ZHU, Assistant Professor in Business Intelligence and Analytics
Abstract
We examine how users respond to receiving symbolic prizes in online innovation contests. Our setting is a machine learning competition platform that grants symbolic medals to recognize outstanding participants. Employing a regression discontinuity design, we find that gold medal winners tend to participate less in subsequent contests, yet they contribute more to prosocial activities, as evidenced by the greater number and length of posts, as well as more substantial and frequent code contributions. In contrast, bronze and silver medals do not seem to exhibit a significant influence on recipients’ subsequent behaviors. Our analysis reveals that the contrasting effects of gold medals stem from winners shifting their goals from competing in contests to contributing to the community. This shift is driven by a downward social comparison—winners who track inferior competitors post-victory are more likely to reduce contest participation while increasing community engagement. Compared to solo winners, team winners are less prone to shifting their goas. This study uncovers a novel effect of goal shifting prompted by symbolic contest prizes and highlights its significance for incentive design in innovation contests.
Speaker
Jing Wang is an associate professor at the School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received her Ph.D. in information systems from the Stern School of Business, New York University. Her main research interests include crowdsourcing, online labor markets, crowdfunding, user-generated content, sharing economy, and data mining. Her work has been published in prestigious journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Management Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery. Currently, she serves as an associate editor for Service Science and an Editorial Review Board member of Information Systems Research. Previously, she served as an Associate Editor for MIS Quarterly and INFORMS journal on Data Science. She received the ISS Management Science Best Paper Award in 2020 and the MISQ Outstanding Associate Editor award for 2021.
All are welcome!
