Citizen Innovation in Fab Cities

Past innovation research points to various motives of why individuals participate in innovation contests, ranging from pecuniary rewards to the joy of innovation. At the same time, it is unclear how these motives are associated with the quality of the generated ideas. Yet, understanding this relationship is key for organizations that wish to design prizes effectively. Using data from the Fab City Hamburg Maker challenge, an innovation challenge that took place in summer 2022, we provide evidence that altruistic (rather than financial) participation motives are related to a superior innovation performance: those who indicated altruistic participation motives submitted ideas that were judged most favorably by an external audience. This finding suggests that, to attract the most able individuals, organizations should support participants in disseminating their solutions and sharing their knowledge with potential users.