Start Date
12-16-2013
Description
Designing an appropriate online social referral incentive system allows websites to increase their customer base and enhance sales. This study integrates ultimatum game theory with construal level theory to investigate the impacts of social distance, social norms, and monetary incentives on the performance of online social referral incentive systems. Controlled lab experiments and randomized field experiments with an online ticketing company were conducted to test our hypotheses. Results from the lab and field show that with small social distance, the success of a referral is determined by the social norms between friends but not by the split of the referral bonus; with a large social distance, the success of the referral is determined by a fair split of the bonus between acquaintances. By studying the dynamics of social networking, our research stresses the role of social elements in e-commerce when rational economic rules can be potentially harmful.
Recommended Citation
Shi, Nan; Hong, Yili; Wang, Kanliang; and Pavlou, Paul, "Social Commerce Beyond Word of Mouth: Role of Social Distance and Social Norms in Online Referral Incentive Systems" (2013). ICIS 2013 Proceedings. 11.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2013/proceedings/EBusiness/11
Social Commerce Beyond Word of Mouth: Role of Social Distance and Social Norms in Online Referral Incentive Systems
Designing an appropriate online social referral incentive system allows websites to increase their customer base and enhance sales. This study integrates ultimatum game theory with construal level theory to investigate the impacts of social distance, social norms, and monetary incentives on the performance of online social referral incentive systems. Controlled lab experiments and randomized field experiments with an online ticketing company were conducted to test our hypotheses. Results from the lab and field show that with small social distance, the success of a referral is determined by the social norms between friends but not by the split of the referral bonus; with a large social distance, the success of the referral is determined by a fair split of the bonus between acquaintances. By studying the dynamics of social networking, our research stresses the role of social elements in e-commerce when rational economic rules can be potentially harmful.