indebtedness and reciprocity in local online exchange

CSCW 2013, February 23

Airi Lampinen, Vilma Lehtinen, Coye Cheshire, & Emmi Suhonen

@airi_

Indebtedness and Reciprocity in Local Online Exchange

Why are reciprocity and feelings of indebtedness important for CSCW?

• Many popular and emerging online sharing and collaborative consumption systems allow people to engage in the social exchange of goods and services in local geographic settings.

• Issues of reciprocity & indebtedness are core to social exchange – especially in indirect exchange where receiving is not contingent on giving.

• We seek to understand how individuals interpret and respond to norms of indirect social exchange in order to better encourage and sustain participation.

Social Exchange in Online Communities

Indirect Exchange:

Generalized Exchange

(indirect reciprocity)

Direct Exchange:

Negotiated Exchange

(direct reciprocity)

A B

3rd Party

Higher Uncertainty

LowerUncertainty

A B

C

Social exchange is vital to social interaction, community, and solidarity

The norm of reciprocity“reciprocity can increase solidarity

between exchange partners through either symbolic or communicative value over and above the instrumental value of the benefits provided” (Molm et al. 2007)

Sense of Indebtedness“a state of tension having motivational properties such that the greater its magnitude, the greater will be the efforts to reduce it” (Greenberg and Shapiro, 1971)

– How do individuals make sense of indirect reciprocity?

– How do they understand how to make use of a novel system of online exchange?

– What can we do as researchers, designers and practitioners to alleviate and address feelings of discomfort while facilitating ongoing exchange?

Interpreting and responding to norms of indirect social exchange in a local geographic community

KassiA Local Online Exchange System

Suhonen, E., Lampinen, A., Cheshire, C. & Antin, J. (2010) Everyday favors: a case study of a local online gift exchange system. GROUP '10

Individual interviews with active participants in the Kassi community at a large Finnish university

Primary focal points for analysis:1. Experiences and perceptions of reciprocity and indebtedness 2. User behaviors to lessen uneasy feelings of indebtedness

Individual interviews with active participants in the Kassi community at a large Finnish university

Primary focal points for analysis:1. Experiences and perceptions of reciprocity and indebtedness 2. User behaviors to lessen uneasy feelings of indebtedness

Case Study of Indirect Non-Monetary Exchanges

Snapshot of Kassi during the research period

4464 members2243 weekly visits to site2833 listings for offers and requests

11 semi-structured interviews49 focal accounts of indirect exchange

So…how do users respond to feelings of indebtedness?

Primary Themes From User Descriptions of Exchange Experiences

“I gave him a little cash for coffee so that also made me feel good that I at least somehow paid the favor back to him. So then; I did not feel at all that I would have been a burden.”

Lessening the Discomforts of Indebtedness:

Offering small tokens of appreciation


Understanding & accepting the indirect nature of generalized exchange

”It feels like ‘okay, I can borrow this’.

And then if someone needs, for instance,

a hammer from me, I’ll lend it.

That way we’ll be okay with the community.”

“Maybe it could have been even smoother if

in the offer there would have been a mention

of sharing the costs of gas”


Managing expectationsFraming offers and requests carefully

“Yeah, there was then a little bit of a hassle, I had a lot of work and he was always busy in the evenings.

But then, I took the attitude that he has to come and pick it up from me from here if he wants to borrow it”


Minimizing efforts needed in exchange processes


Bartering and Exchanging for a Third Party

“I just said that I can keep an eye out for skates of his size and then there happened to be a pair [on offer].”

Individuals tend to accept support from those

“of a kind they could themselves return on

occasion.” (Homans, 1958)

Implications I:

Matching Similarity and Status Characteristics

Highlighting the Value of Being a RecipientPrior work shows that individuals contribute more when they know the unique value of their contribution. However, recipients often do not recognize that they provide others with rewarding experiences by allowing contributors to be helpful, needed community members.

Implications II:

Implications III:Highlighting Exchange Processes, Not Just Outcomes

Showcasing successful and less successful

examples of exchange processes can help

diffuse community norms in an organic way.

• Encouraging and sustaining participation is a central challenge for different systems, regardless of whether they function online, offline, or in online-offline hybrid forms

• The concepts of reciprocity and indebtedness can help us understand what makes participation challenging at times

• The key is to redirect feelings of indebtedness towards positive, participatory outcomes rather than frustration, hesitation, and non-participation

Conclusions

• Investigating paths of participation in local online exchange through log data analysis

• Kassi is now known as Sharetribe, and the service is spreading out to neighborhoods, companies, and other types of communities – in various countries

Future Directions

AcknowledgementsThis work has been supported by the OtaSizzle and Possi research projects. We thank our colleagues Antti Oulasvirta, Suvi Silfverberg, and Eeva Raita,CSCW reviewers, as well as Juho Makkonen and Antti Virolainen from Sharetribe.

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandoncwarren/4164759025/sizes/l/in/photostream/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtualfarmboy/80878746/sizes/l/in/photostream/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgold/8446028761/sizes/l/in/photostream/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/5601019859/sizes/l/in/photostream/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/p_d_gibson/16820293/sizes/o/in/photostream/

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/demiller/142176230/sizes/z/in/photostream/

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indebtedness and reciprocity in local online exchange

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