Ideology Mismatch and Incentives on User Behaviors: A Natural Experiment in Blockchain Social Media Platforms

Social media has become a critical part of daily life and the digital economy. However, people start to realize the issues with the monopolistic power in conventional social media (CSM) settings and seek solutions in alternative environments. The formation of blockchain social media (BSM) has introduced the functional promises of both the CSM and a distinctive governance model characterized by decentralization. This system distributes wealth as well as decision-making power among its members while offering the same social media features. In this paper, we propose that the decentralized architecture represents not only a practical design but also an ideological stance, reflecting the psychological desires for disintermediation and autonomy. Consequently, the alignment between users’ requests and the platform’s offerings plays a crucial role in shaping user-platform (U-P) relationships. Acknowledging the dynamic nature of the blockchain industry, we examine the influence of an organization’s ideological shifts on member behavior. By synthesizing the Person-Environment (P-E) fit theory with motivation theory, we evaluate the impact of U-P ideological discrepancies on BSM, using difference-in-differences (DiD) analyses on two leading BSM platforms. We discover that the ideology mismatch modifies the effectiveness of financial incentives provided through crypto tokens. Mismatched users tend to prioritize personal gains over the platform’s objectives and potentially engage in actions detrimental to the platform’s wellbeing. Our findings suggest that financial incentives alone are insufficient for governing user behavior within BSM. A combination of incentives and ideology is necessary to ensure user actions are aligned with the platform’s overarching goals.