Network Characteristics and the Value of Collaborative User-Generated Content

Sam Ransbotham (), Gerald C. Kane () and Nicholas H. Lurie ()
Additional contact information
Sam Ransbotham: Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
Gerald C. Kane: Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
Nicholas H. Lurie: School of Business, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269

Marketing Science, 2012, vol. 31, issue 3, 387-405

Abstract: User-generated content is increasingly created through the collaborative efforts of multiple individuals. In this paper, we argue that the value of collaborative user-generated content is a function both of the direct efforts of its contributors and of its embeddedness in the content-contributor network that creates it. An analysis of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine reveals a curvilinear relationship between the number of distinct contributors to user-generated content and viewership. A two-mode social network analysis demonstrates that the embeddedness of the content in the content-contributor network is positively related to viewership. Specifically, locally central content--characterized by greater intensity of work by contributors to multiple content sources--is associated with increased viewership. Globally central content--characterized by shorter paths to the other collaborative content in the overall network--also generates greater viewership. However, within these overall effects, there is considerable heterogeneity in how network characteristics relate to viewership. In addition, network effects are stronger for newer collaborative user-generated content. These findings have implications for fostering collaborative user-generated content.

Keywords: user-generated content; information value; wiki; social network analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1110.0684 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:31:y:2012:i:3:p:387-405

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Marketing Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().