Donate for credibility: how contribution incentives can improve credibility

This study explores whether certain contribution incentives for online user-generated content can undermine or enhance contributor’s credibility. Through an online experiment, we found that contributors who are rewarded by donations made in their names are perceived to be more credible than contributors who contributed voluntarily or are financially compensated through revenue sharing. In addition, disclosing the chosen charity for donation gifts can also impact credibility. Content viewer’s self-identification with charity and the congruency between charity and content topic are all factors that may impact credibility. Our findings lead to practical contributions on when and how to use contribution incentives to enhance credibility. Author Keywords Credibility, contribution incentives, user-generated content. ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Gary Hsieh, Scott E. Hudson, Robert E. Kraut
• Keywords: CHI 2011, Content Topic, Content Viewer, Human Computer Interaction, Information Interfaces