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Wireless communities may be an intriguing alternative to 3G networks for offering mobile Internet, but their success depends on their ability to reach a critical mass of active members. The main issue is to understand what motivates and hinders people to join and participate in these communities to design suitable incentives to attract people and promote an active and enduring participation. This paper studies the factors that influence participation in FON, the largest wireless community, based on a theoretical model based combining research on technology adoption, self determination theory and prosocial behavior. The model is then empirically tested employing a mixed methodology drawing on 30 interviews and a survey of 268 members. Two types of participations are found to be driven by different motivations: participation by sharing, mainly driven by idealistic motivation linked to community values and reciprocity, and social participation is driven by social and technical motives like interacting and learning with other community members. On the other hand, utilitarian motivations do not have a significant effect on participation, even though they are deemed important for attracting members.

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