Two essays on the role of information on online platforms

Abstract

Consumers are increasingly active on various online platforms. Many of activities, such as shopping, renting apartments and searching for job assignments, have been moved to online environment. Usually, more than one parties are observed on these platforms (e.g., buyers and sellers, hosts and renters, employers and employees) and these parties do not have the same amount of information. To solve the information asymmetry, one party has incentives to reveal information to other parties. In this thesis, I examine the effect of information on users' behavior on two platforms. In particular, I focus on the information of various type. Essay 1 investigates the role of feedback and others' submissions on platforms that host innovation contests. These platforms match firms offering fixed prizes to solicit creative ideas with individuals who compete for the prizes by contributing ideas. By collecting data on logo-design contests, I study how feedback and competing submissions may influence a designer's creative behavior (i.e., whether to adopt a new design style or stick to an old style) since exploring different directions is critical to the success of a contest. Essay 2 explores the effect of product pictures provided by retailers on consumers' price sensitivity. I propose a new mechanism that pictures may change consumers' information processing strategies and therefore increase price sensitivity. The main effect of pictures is validated by two conjoint studies using different products. Furthermore, to test my mechanism, I develop a dynamic choice model and estimate it using choice and eye-tracking data. These findings have significant managerial implications on the design of information on these platforms.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Supervisor	Song LIN (Supervisor) & Ralf VAN DER LANS (Supervisor)