Blockchain, DLT, and Fintech
Paper Number
1836
Paper Type
Completed
Description
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) offer a novel paradigm, fostering members’ decentralized cooperation towards collective goals. Central to this are token rewards, aligning individuals’ interests with DAO’s collective goals to enhance cooperation. We introduce a theoretical model proposing that DAO members’ perceived social norms impact the effectiveness of this token-based interest alignment mechanism by influencing members’ tendencies to hold tokens, subsequently affecting their cooperative behaviors. By analyzing data collected from the prominent social DAO, Steem, our empirical findings validated this proposition. Our study stands at the forefront of elucidating the complex interplay between economic incentives and social motivations in DAOs, particularly the interest alignment mechanism. Moreover, based on the basic rationales of profit-sharing arrangements in traditional organizations, we transpose this understanding to the context of DAOs, offering a nuanced articulation of the interest alignment mechanism, which is absent in the current DAO literature.
Recommended Citation
Dong, Sichen; Hu, Daning; and Chau, Michael, "Perceived Social Norms, Token Rewards, and Cooperation in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)" (2023). ICIS 2023 Proceedings. 9.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2023/blockchain/blockchain/9
Perceived Social Norms, Token Rewards, and Cooperation in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) offer a novel paradigm, fostering members’ decentralized cooperation towards collective goals. Central to this are token rewards, aligning individuals’ interests with DAO’s collective goals to enhance cooperation. We introduce a theoretical model proposing that DAO members’ perceived social norms impact the effectiveness of this token-based interest alignment mechanism by influencing members’ tendencies to hold tokens, subsequently affecting their cooperative behaviors. By analyzing data collected from the prominent social DAO, Steem, our empirical findings validated this proposition. Our study stands at the forefront of elucidating the complex interplay between economic incentives and social motivations in DAOs, particularly the interest alignment mechanism. Moreover, based on the basic rationales of profit-sharing arrangements in traditional organizations, we transpose this understanding to the context of DAOs, offering a nuanced articulation of the interest alignment mechanism, which is absent in the current DAO literature.
When commenting on articles, please be friendly, welcoming, respectful and abide by the AIS eLibrary Discussion Thread Code of Conduct posted here.
Comments
07-Blockchain