Using Platform-Generated Content to Stimulate User-Generated Content

This work intends to study the implication of an editorial review program where a review platform starts to supplement the user-generated reviews on its website with editorial review articles that are written by the platform. Our research question is whether platform-generated content (i.e., editorial reviews) influence subsequent user- generated content (i.e., online reviews) both in terms of the quantity and quality of those reviews. We obtain the dataset through a partnership with a restaurant review platform in Asia. Our preliminary analysis suggests that platform-generated content has a positive net effect on subsequent user-generated content. Specifically, users post more reviews for restaurants that have editorial reviews and these reviews tend to be longer on average

When Reward Meets Donation: A Paradoxical Dilemma

Reward-based crowdfunding platforms are increasingly incorporating donation options, allowing backers to financially support campaigns without receiving any tangible rewards in return. Although this option seems to create a novel fundraising channel, our quasi-natural experimental study highlights the potential negative impacts of individual donation occurrences, which ultimately lead to reduced total raised funds, as substantiated by robust empirical evidence. We explore two primary mechanisms responsible for the adverse effect. First, the bystander effect, where prior donations discourage potential backers from supporting the campaign, causing them to either forgo reward purchases or decrease their contribution amounts. Second, the social conformity effect, in which prior donations shape backers\u27 perceptions of social norms and consequently lower their support levels. By offering a comprehensive understanding of behavioral dynamics in crowdfunding, our study enriches the literature on the design and management of crowdfunding platforms and provides valuable insights for industry practitioners

Analysis of Design Elements in the Machine-Platform-Crowd Transformation

Digital transformation greatly affects all segments of our society. There are three powerful trends unleashed by the digital revolution: machine, platform, and crowd. The first trend emphasizes that machine learning can either complements or supplements human capabilities, which leads to data-driven decision making. The second trend shows that value creation is moving from physical products to platforms (e.g., Uber and Airbnb) where network effects can have a great impact. The third trend is about the emergence of online crowds. Several good examples are crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and collaborative platforms such as Wikipedia. My research work studies these three trends from different aspects. In the first project, we investigated how professional reviewers influence subsequent noneditor reviewers in their writing behaviors. Restaurants that receive editorial reviews are found to have reviewers who not only post more frequently, but also give lengthier and more neutral feedback. Further investigation of the mechanism finds that in terms of the topics, sentiment, and readability, following reviews of restaurants that receive editorial reviews become increasingly similar to their editorial reviews, indicating that a herding effect is the main driver of the shift in later reviews. In this study, we not only look at quantitative review characteristics such as rating and review length, but also extract qualitative review characteristics embedded in review text using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques (e.g., Topic modeling and Sentiment analysis). In the second project, we studied how AI-based shelf monitoring can help manufacturers with their shelf management efforts. In general, we’ve discovered that AI-powered shelf monitoring boosts product sales. We further reveal that the positive effect shall be attributed to independent retailers rather than chained retailers. More broadly, the finding further suggests that AI-powered monitoring is more scalable, allowing manufacturers to cope more effectively with more heterogeneous objects. In this study, we analyzed shelf photos using deep learning (e.g., image recognition). Furthermore, we conducted a qualitative study (i.e., interviews) as a supplement attempt to uncover the underlying mechanism behind the interesting phenomenon found in our field experiment. In the third project, we tried to understand the dynamic contribution patterns caused by backers’ multiple roles and fundraisers’ strategic behaviors. We show that projects described by more subjective content (i.e., title and introduction) significantly repel potential donors. We further show that fundraisers’ contribution to their own projects might increase donor’ intention to donate and has no significant impact on reward pledging of subsequent backers. Above that, we find a positive interplay between donation and reward pledge, suggesting a cross-channel peer influence that will facilitate the fundraising progress

The Value of Editorial Reviews for UGC Platform

We investigate an editorial review program where a review platform supplements the user reviews with editorial ones written by professional writers. Specifically, we examine whether and how editorial reviews influence subsequent user reviews (reviews written by non-editor reviewers). The empirical evidence from a quasi-experiment on a leading review platform in Asia based on several econometric and natural language processing techniques shows an overall positive effect of editorial reviews on subsequent user reviews from the platform’s perspective. For restaurants that receive editorial reviews, reviewers not only post more frequently, but also write longer and more neutral feedback. Further analysis of the mechanism reveals that the subsequent reviews of the restaurants that receive editorial reviews become more similar to their editorial reviews regarding the topics, sentiment, and readability, indicating a herding effect as the main driver of the change in the subsequent reviews. The findings suggest that review platforms could use an editorial review program to not only boost the review quantity, but also manage the content’s quality. By supplementing high-quality editorial reviews with user reviews, the platform can improve the overall content quality of user reviews through a herding effect

Let Artificial Intelligence Be Your Shelf Watchdog: The Impact of Intelligent Image Processing-Powered Shelf Monitoring on Product Sales

We collaborated with a leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturer to investigate how intelligent image processing (IIP)-based shelf monitoring aids manufacturers’ shelf management by using data from a quasi-experiment and a field experiment. We discovered that such artificial intelligence (AI) assistance significantly and consistently improves product sales. Several underlying mechanisms were revealed by our quantitative and qualitative analysis. First, retailers are more likely to comply due to the greater monitoring effectiveness enabled by AI assistance. Second, the positive effect of IIP-based shelf monitoring partially persists after it is terminated, implying that human learning takes place. Third, the value of IIP-based shelf monitoring can be attributed to independent retailers rather than chain retailers. Since the degree of contract heterogeneity is the major difference between these retailers in terms of monitoring, this finding further suggests that AI is relatively more scalable when coping with more heterogeneous instances. Apart from these great benefits, we demonstrate the low marginal costs of implementing IIP-powered shelf monitoring, which indicates its long-term applicability and potential to generate incremental value. Our research contributes to several literature streams and provides managerial insights for practitioners who consider AI-assisted operational models

The Impact of AI-powered Shelf Monitoring on Product Sales

We collaborate with Danone to study how AI-based shelf monitoring helps with manufacturers\u27 shelf management efforts by using data from a field experiment. We find that AI-powered shelf monitoring significantly improves product sales. This effect is only partially persistent in that it diminishes after monitoring is terminated. We further reveal that the positive effect is attributed to independent retailers rather than chained retailers. Since the major difference in shelf monitoring between these two types of retailers is the degree of heterogeneity in shelf space rental contracts, this finding indicates that AI-powered monitoring is better than human monitoring when facing more heterogeneous shelf displays. The finding further suggests the better scalability of AI in coping with more heterogeneous objects. We also interview with the delegates and find a low marginal cost of adopting, which suggests a long-term applicability of AI-powered shelf monitoring to generate value for the manufacturer

Exogenous ATP triggers antioxidant defense system and alleviates Cd toxicity in maize seedlings

The role of exogenous adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) in the regulation of antioxidant response in plants under heavy metal stress is unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of exogenous ATP application on plant growth, antioxidant response, and Cd accumulation in maize seedlings. Treatment with 0.1 mM CdCl2 moderately reduced dry weight, decreased chlorophyll content, impaired photosynthesis, and increased lipid peroxidation in maize seedlings compared with controls. However, toxicity due to Cd was alleviated after 10–200 µM ATP treatment. Subsequently, the activity of Cd-regulated antioxidant enzymes, antioxidant metabolite accumulation, and total antioxidant capacity were drastically enhanced after 50 µM ATP treatment. Similar patterns were observed in the ADP-treated group but not in the AMP-treated group under Cd stress. However, the ATP-induced elevation in antioxidant defense ability was decreased by the inhibition of NADPH oxidase (NOX). ATP-induced elevation in NOX activity and H2O2 production was partly reversed by the inhibition of NOX in maize seedlings under Cd stress. Furthermore, ATP promoted Cd accumulation in the roots and shoots of maize seedlings. However, the ATP-induced increase in Cd accumulation was partly abolished by the inhibition of NOX. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the role and mechanism of exogenous ATP in regulating plant growth, antioxidant response, and heavy metal phytoextraction. The study provides a new method based on exogenous ATP for enhancing heavy metal tolerance in plants