Gamified giving: Contingent effects of leaderboard rankings on donation behavior in online medical crowdfunding

Online medical crowdfunding has emerged as a vital resource for patients seeking public assistance. As a typical gamification design, leaderboards play a crucial role in boosting users' donation. Grounded in motivational affordance and social influence theories, this study investigates how different leaderboard types and rankings influence donation through the underlying mechanism of sense of self-worth. A 2 (leaderboard ranking: high vs. low) × 2 (leaderboard type: public vs. social) between-subject experiment was conducted to validate our research model. The results reveal that high rankings enhance users' donation intentions by boosting their sense of self-worth. This positive effect is more pronounced in public leaderboards than in social ones. Additionally, donation experience weakens the positive effect of sense of self-worth on donation intention. This study contributes to the decision support systems literatures on online crowdfunding and gamification design with practical implications for fundraising strategies.