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Title:
Incentivizing User Engagement in User-Generated Content (UGC) Communities: Evidence from Field Studies

Abstract:
For many Internet consumers, User-Generated Content (UGC) has replaced traditional media outlets and become the preferred channel for information acquisition, entertainment and motivation of online expenditures. Maintaining users' loyalty and motivating them to be actively involved in monetization activities are some of the most critical challenges for UGC platforms' sustainable development. To deal with these challenges, our research aims to investigate user engagement behaviors and the underlying mechanisms behind these behaviors in two different contexts, an asynchronous UGC platform and a synchronous live streaming service. By collaborating with a large online community (Qiubai) and a popular live streaming platform (Remix) in China, we combine a unique panel data analysis method on detailed user-level activity data with large-scale field experiments. Specifically, we investigate the possibility of using nudges and digital badges to encourage user engagement in UGC platforms by examining the impact of extrinsic factors of UI on user behaviors. We capture and simulate the dynamics of user engagement state using a Hidden Markov model and Monte Carlo Layered Bayesian model and fit the data of users' engagement behavior under the social network structure using the Fixed Effect Poisson model. In our live streaming context, we use variance analysis and linear panel data regression methods to analyze users' paying (tipping) behavior through manipulating audience size, tipping amount and develop a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model to examine the role of emotion in interactive and dynamic social settings. Our findings can help UGC communities better understand user engagement behaviors, and thus provide theoretical and managerial implications for effective UGC marketing strategies to enhance users' loyalty and stimulate their active online engagement.

Bio:
Dr. Xingyu (Celine) Chen received her Ph.D. degree in Systems and Engineering Management from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2013. She is currently an associate professor and deputy head of the Department of Marketing, College of Management, at Shenzhen University, China. Dr. Chen’s research has focused on online user behavior and social media marketing strategy. She has been publishing in a number of prestigious journals in her field, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing and Technology, Behavior and Information Technology, and Ivey Business Cases. Dr. Chen has received the University Outstanding Young Scientist Award in 2018, College Best Teacher Award and MBA Best Teaching Award in 2016-2019. Her research has been funded by the Ministry of Education of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province. Before joining academia, she also worked as senior product manager at leading Internet firms, ProperGuru and Mozat, in Singapore.