Krzysztof Kowalczyk wrote:
There there's also this fact that, while the issue isn't completely settled, there is psychological research saying that extrinsic rewards, contrary to naive but popular belief, not only doesn't increase performance, but actually lowers it, see e.g.: http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/cont_reward.html http://www.nwrel.org/request/oct00/motivate.html http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap4/chap4q.htm
The important conclusion is that there is lack of conclusive evidence that extrinsic rewards actually help and there is psychological research showing the opposite.
I wouldn't take this "research" too seriously. I'm not doubting the seriousness and/or competency of the researchers, but this seems like one of those "scientific conclusions" that are made once and then taken for instant truth by a large group of people (volunteer online project participants, in this case) because it simply "fits the picture". In other words, the conclusion is backed up by wishful thinking more than concrete evidence. Not surprisingly, the first time I heard of this "scientific evidence" was on a page on the server of the Free Software Foundation, and in general you hardly ever hear of it outside of free-software or open-source communities.
It's like with the milk and the lightning. People have observed that milk tends to go sour when there is a thunderstorm. They conclude from that that the thunderstorm causes the milk to go sour, because that would fit the picture. But the conclusion is false. In reality there is a third factor, namely humidity, which causes both the milk to go sour and a thunderstorm.
Similarly it is possible that people produce less-quality work for money not because of the money, but because of some undetermined third factor. Work for money tends to be less volunteered (i.e. you're stuck in a contract with an employer, you can't opt out at any time). Work for money tends to involve other people (colleagues or a boss) whom you might not like, but can't walk away from. Loads of possibilities.
Greetings, Timwi