Abstract: Open source stimulates technological innovation by fostering a trustworthy open collaboration model, and the commercialization of open source has led to a shift in individuals’ motivations to engage in creative collisions within this community-driven mechanism. Consequently, this study constructs a theoretical framework for driving factors termed the “Carrot-Rainbow” from the perspectives of self-determination theory and social practice view. These factors are categorized into short-term economic rewards (Carrot) and long-term, valuable pursuits (Rainbow). Utilizing GitHub’s open source survey data, a comprehensive approach employing both multiple regression analysis and fsQCA is applied to explore the interrelations and inherent complexities among the antecedents of individuals’ future contributions to digital technology open source communities. The findings suggest that future contribution likelihood may be significantly and positively related to financial rewards, career advancement, intellectual property agreements, external efficacy, user value, and community support, respectively. When the carrot and rainbow dimensions of factors are combined, no evidence of extrinsic factors crowding out intrinsic factors is found, but rather external efficacy enhances the rainbow dimension and plays the most important driving role. The driving factors of carrot and rainbow dimensions can form three configurations leading to a high future contribution likelihood, that is “rainbow-occupational”, “rainbow-IP”, and “carrot” types. The theoretical and practical contributions derived from this study provide essential guidance for future research, relevant contributors, and managers.

Key words: digital technology open source community, motivation, self-determination theory, multiple regression analysis, fsQCA