Paper Number
2075
Paper Type
Complete
Description
The low-participation problem has long been a challenge facing many paid Q&A platforms. Recently, a new business model wherein users, in addition to raising a question and receiving a personalized answer, can pay a small amount of fees to view a non-personalized answer to a question asked by others, has drawn considerable public attention and is considered an effective means to tackling such a challenge. In this paper, we build a theoretical model to explore whether this new business model benefits the key stakeholders (Q&A platform, answerers, and users). We find that the platform is not always better off when the answer-viewing feature is introduced. Another interesting finding is that while answerers may engage in direct competition with the platform, they can sometimes be better off. Additionally, we find that although having a new way to participate in the platform, users may sometimes be worse off under the answer-viewing feature.
Recommended Citation
Gao, Yi; Mehra, Amit; and Liu, Dengpan, "Answer Viewing Design on Paid Q&A Platforms" (2022). ICIS 2022 Proceedings. 6.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2022/sharing_econ/sharing_econ/6
Answer Viewing Design on Paid Q&A Platforms
The low-participation problem has long been a challenge facing many paid Q&A platforms. Recently, a new business model wherein users, in addition to raising a question and receiving a personalized answer, can pay a small amount of fees to view a non-personalized answer to a question asked by others, has drawn considerable public attention and is considered an effective means to tackling such a challenge. In this paper, we build a theoretical model to explore whether this new business model benefits the key stakeholders (Q&A platform, answerers, and users). We find that the platform is not always better off when the answer-viewing feature is introduced. Another interesting finding is that while answerers may engage in direct competition with the platform, they can sometimes be better off. Additionally, we find that although having a new way to participate in the platform, users may sometimes be worse off under the answer-viewing feature.
When commenting on articles, please be friendly, welcoming, respectful and abide by the AIS eLibrary Discussion Thread Code of Conduct posted here.
Comments
08-Sharing