Contributory Movivations to Join DAOs

Discussion

(research-based)

Merk, T., Lotti, L. et al. :

"We consistently found that contributors were motivated to join DAOs for social reasons, such as a feeling of community, conviviality, or to work with colleagues whom interviewees found to be exceptionally talented people. Specifically, contributors use DAOs as an excuse for collaboration and to work alongside “gigabrains” (interviewee 5), whom they would not have been able to connect with easily in traditional work environments. As one contributor explained: “I meet really brilliant people and my mind is constantly expanded by them. So that's probably my main motivation” (interviewee 2). Furthermore, most contributors explicitly stated that money (especially earning more than “affording life” (interviewee 8)) was not their main motivation for joining a DAO. This indicates that people are predominantly motivated to join DAOs for values-oriented reasons over strictly financial incentives. Many contributors also stated that they were dissatisfied with traditional companies and disillusioned with the shareholder-driven economy. For some, DAOs simply catered to the style of working they aspired to: “remote work, asynchronous work that works for me. And I work best that way” (interviewee 8). Others hoped that contributing to DAOs would drive systemic change and impact in areas like the environment, open-source development, creative industries, and, not least, the workplace. As one interviewee put it, “is aligning with my values of being inclusive, being stakeholder minded, not only a small group of shareholders, but considering all your stakeholders in the community” (interviewee 21). However, while many excitedly shared the potential they saw for DAOs to bring about meaningful change, contributors also emphasised that the reality of working in DAOs did not always match this aspiration."

(https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/decentralised-autonomous-organisations)