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Do money-based incentives improve user effort and UGC quality? Evidence from a travel blog platform

  • Xiamen University
  • Nanjing Audit University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Although user-generated content (UGC) is prevalent these days, high-quality UGC is still desired by readers and is crucial for the development of a website. Therefore, how to encourage users to produce high-quality content becomes a critical issue for UGC platforms. Using travel blogs collected from Lvmama.com, a leading online travel agency (OTA) in China, we investigated the effects of money-based incentives on user effort to generate high-quality content and its performance in the long run. The launch of money-based incentives after several years of running of the platform provides an ideal natural experiment setting. We applied the regression discontinuity design, and the results show that both user effort and UGC quality increased after the incentive program was released. However, the UGC quality declined quickly after that. This study concludes by presenting theoretical and managerial implications for both research and practice.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 22nd Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - Opportunities and Challenges for the Digitized Society
Subtitle of host publicationAre We Ready?, PACIS 2018
EditorsMotonari Tanabu, Dai Senoo
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems
ISBN (Electronic)9784902590838
StatePublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event22nd Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - Opportunities and Challenges for the Digitized Society: Are We Ready?, PACIS 2018 - Yokohama, Japan
Duration: 26 Jun 201830 Jun 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 22nd Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - Opportunities and Challenges for the Digitized Society: Are We Ready?, PACIS 2018

Conference

Conference22nd Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - Opportunities and Challenges for the Digitized Society: Are We Ready?, PACIS 2018
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityYokohama
Period26/06/1830/06/18

Keywords

  • Money-based incentive
  • Natural experiment
  • UGC motivation
  • UGC quality

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