Volunteer computing: A model of the factors determining contribution to community-based scientific research

Volunteer computing is a powerful way to harness distributed resources to perform large-scale tasks, similarly to other types of community-based initiatives. Volunteer computing is based on two pillars: the first is computational - allocating and managing large computing tasks; the second is participative - making large numbers of individuals volunteer their computer resources to a project. While the computational aspects of volunteer computing received much research attention, the participative aspect remains largely unexplored. In this study we aim to address this gap: by drawing on social psychology and online communities research, we develop and test a three-dimensional model of the factors determining volunteer computing users' contribution. We investigate one of the largest volunteer computing projects - SETI@home - by linking survey data about contributors' motivations to their activity logs. Our findings highlight the differences between volunteer computing and other forms of community-based projects, and reveal the intricate relationship between individual motivations, social affiliation, tenure in the project, and resource contribution. Implications for research and practice are discussed.