ABSTRACT
Shared databases are used for knowledge sharing in groups. The decision whether to contribute knowledge to such a database or to withhold it represents a public-goods dilemma. Each group member saves time and energy if s/he only uses the database to get information but does not contribute any information. But if all do so, the database is empty, and nobody has any benefit of it. An experimental environment enabling the study of this dilemma is described, and an overview of five experiments is given. They investigate the effect of the following factors: providing metaknowledge about the importance of the information, providing a bonus system to reward contributing, reducing costs for contribution, establishing prescriptive rules for the number of contributions, and providing feedback about the teammates’ contribution behavior.
