In 1943 Maslow published an article on human motivation entitled "A Theory of Human Motivation", and in this post I consider how these theories might apply to those involved in the development of free open source software (F/OSS).
Maslow’s theories describe how a person’s needs are the motivators for their behaviour, and that once a given need is satisfied it is no longer a motivator. Needs are presented in a hierarchy and once basic needs such as food, safety and love have been satisfied, the person is free to concentrate on higher needs, which he presents as Esteem needs followed by Self-actualization needs. These needs then become the motivators for behaviour, and both may arguably be applied to individuals’ motivation for participation in open-source software.
Under the heading of Esteem needs, Maslow states that everyone has a need or desire for self-esteem and for the esteem of others, based on their own capacity and achievement, along with respect from others in the form of: reputation, prestige, recognition, attention, appreciation or importance. This is supported by Dale Carnegie who argues that the desire to feel appreciated and important are the deepest urges in human nature.
These esteem needs can be applied to what Lakhani describes as extrinsic motivation for participation in a F/OSS project. Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory places less emphasis on salary as a motivator than might initially be expected. In F/OSS one’s contribution (normally in the form of source code) indicates one’s capacity and level of achievement, and how these are perceived by peers becomes the basis for the esteem in which the contributor is held by his peer group. Raymond (2001) describes F/OSS culture as a gift culture where status and reputation are based on what is given away, i.e. contribution to the F/OSS project and/or movement.
Contributions to a F/OSS project are normally subjected to intense peer review by the project team and other interested third parties, and faults are readily, and often publicly through mailing lists, communicated back to the contributor. Nantz (2005) claims that most F/OSS developers have a desire to look good in the eyes of their peers and will refine their code to the best of their abilities before releasing it.
Once an individual’s esteem needs are satisfied, Maslow argues that a need for self-actualization can develop whereby a person is compelled to pursue their vocation in search of self-fulfillment, and where that vocation is creative it will take that form. Lakhani describes how developers often consider programming as a creative endeavour, and the survey presented in his paper noted that developers feel a high sense of personal creativity in their projects.
This self-actualization need is comparable to Lakhani’s Intrinsic Motivation, which in this context can be seen as developing F/OSS for the inherent enjoyment, intellectual challenge and self-satisfaction, rather than any external reasons. A developer can be motivated to select a problem which matches their ability, but without a pre-determined solution, the reward of their endeavours being the creative solution to the problem, and the knowledge gained from the development process. In doing this, the F/OSS developer has, through his own creativity, expanded his vocational knowledge and experience, and helped to satisfy his own self-actualization need.
In conclusion, it can be argued that the results found by Lakhani et al do approximate Maslow’s theories, however, there is an overlap in the motivational factors behind F/OSS participation. Maslow talks about the “Degree of relative satisfaction” to indicate that there is no clear point at which one set of needs is completely satisfied and the individual then progresses to the next higher level. If one considers Extrinsic motivational factors to be comparable with esteem needs and Intrinsic motivational factors to be comparable with self-actualization needs, then the Lakhani paper reports observing an interplay between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, and F/OSS developers motivated by a combination of the two with neither dominating nor destroying the effectiveness of the other.
References
Carnegie, D., (1953). How to Win Friends and Influence People, London, UK, Vermilion.
Lakhani, K.R. and Wolf, R.G., (2005). Why hackers do what they do: understanding motivation and effort in free/open source software projects in Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Hissam, S. and Lakhani, K.R. (eds) Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software, MIT Press.
Maslow, H., (1943). A theory of human motivation, originally published in Psychological Review, 50, 370–96
Nantz, B., (2005). Open Source .NET Development, Boston, USA, Pearson Education, Inc.
Raymond, E. S., (2001). How to Become a Hacker [online], Available from: www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html (Accessed 04/04/2010)