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How Do Peer Awards Motivate Creative Content? Experimental Evidence from Reddit

Author

Listed:
  • Gordon Burtch

    (Questrom School of Business, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215)

  • Qinglai He

    (Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706)

  • Yili Hong

    (C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204)

  • Dokyun Lee

    (Questrom School of Business, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215)

Abstract

We theorize peer awards’ effects on the volume and novelty of creative user-generated content (UGC) produced at online platform communities. We then test our hypotheses via a randomized field experiment on Reddit, wherein we randomly and anonymously assigned Reddit’s Gold Award to 905 users’ posts over a two-month period. We find that peer awards induced recipients to make longer, more frequent posts and that these effects were particularly pronounced among newer community members. Further, we show that recipients were causally influenced to engage in greater (lesser) exploitation (exploration) behavior, producing content that exhibited significantly greater textual similarity to their own past (awarded) content. However, because the effects were most pronounced among new community members, who also produce content that, in general, is systematically more novel than that of established members to begin with, this process yields a desirable outcome: larger volumes of generally novel UGC for the community.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon Burtch & Qinglai He & Yili Hong & Dokyun Lee, 2022. "How Do Peer Awards Motivate Creative Content? Experimental Evidence from Reddit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3488-3506, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:68:y:2022:i:5:p:3488-3506
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2021.4040
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Yipu Deng & Jinyang Zheng & Warut Khern-am-nuai & Karthik Kannan, 2022. "More than the Quantity: The Value of Editorial Reviews for a User-Generated Content Platform," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 6865-6888, September.
    3. Han, Xintong & Li, Yushen & Wang, Tong, 2023. "Peer recognition, badge policies, and content contribution: An empirical study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 691-707.
    4. Gloria Urrea & Eunae Yoo, 2023. "The role of volunteer experience on performance on online volunteering platforms," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(2), pages 416-433, February.
    5. Hao Zhang & Mingzheng Wang, 2024. "Tapping vs. Scrolling: Effects of Different Content Acquisition Modes on Content Consumption," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1835-1855, October.
    6. Jiao, Hao & Wang, Lindong & Yang, Jifeng, 2023. "Standing head and shoulders above others? Complementor experience-based design and crowdfunding success on digital platforms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Xinyi Zhang & Chenshuo Sun & Renyu Zhang & Khim-Yong Goh, 2024. "The Value of AI-Generated Metadata for UGC Platforms: Evidence from a Large-scale Field Experiment," Papers 2412.18337, arXiv.org.
    8. De Dreu, Carsten & Nijstad, Bernard A. & Baas, Matthijs, 2023. "Human Creativity: Functions, Mechanisms and Social Conditioning," OSF Preprints pz9yx_v1, Center for Open Science.
    9. Lena Abou El-Komboz & Anna Kerkhof & Johannes Loh, 2023. "Platform Partnership Programs and Content Supply: Evidence from the YouTube “Adpocalypse”," CESifo Working Paper Series 10363, CESifo.

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