Can Reward Uncertainty Encourage Social Referrals? Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment
References
- (2018) The impact of user personality traits on word of mouth: Text-mining social media platforms. Inform. Systems Res. 29(3):612–640.Link, Google Scholar
- (2004) It’s the thought that counts: On perceiving how helpers decide to lend a hand. Personality Soc. Psych. Bull. 30(4):461–474.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2011) Creating social contagion through viral product design: A randomized trial of peer influence in networks. Management Sci. 57(9):1623–1639.Link, Google Scholar
- (1955) Opinions and social pressure. Sci. Amer. 193(5):31–35.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2023) All external reference prices are not the same: How magnitude, source, and fairness shape payment for digital goods. Inform. Systems Res. 34(4):1761–1774.Link, Google Scholar
- (2001) Bad is stronger than good. Rev. General Psych. 5(4):323–370.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2022) Free riding in products with positive network externalities: Empirical evidence from a large mobile network. MIS Quart. 46(1):401–430.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2022) Social referral programs for freemium platforms. Management Sci. 68(12):8933–8962.Link, Google Scholar
- (1994) A theory of conformity. J. Political Econom. 102(5):841–877.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2010) Betrayal aversion: Evidence from Brazil, China, Oman, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States: Comment. Amer. Econom. Rev. 100(1):628–633.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (1996) Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies using Asch’s (1952b, 1956) line judgment task. Psych. Bull. 119(1):111–137.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2021) Referral timing and fundraising success in crowdfunding. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 23(3):676–694.Link, Google Scholar
- (2016) To know or not to know? Looking at payoffs signals selfish behavior, but it does not actually mean so. J. Behav. Experiment. Econom. 65:79–84.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2000) Responsibility and effort in an experimental labor market. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 42(3):375–384.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2009) The role of responsibility in strategic risk-taking. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 69(3):241–247.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2016) Excusing selfishness in charitable giving: The role of risk. Rev. Econom. Stud. 83(2):587–628.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2023) Evolution of referrals over customers’ life cycle: Evidence from a ride-sharing platform. Inform. Systems Res. 34(2):698–720.Link, Google Scholar
- (2013) Growing existing customers’ revenue streams through customer referral programs. J. Marketing 77(4):17–32.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2007) The impact of internet referral services on a supply chain. Inform. Systems Res. 18(3):300–319.Link, Google Scholar
- (2004) Optimism, pessimism, and gambling: The downside of optimism. Personality Soc. Psych. Bull. 30(2):149–160.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2006) The uncertainty effect: When a risky prospect is valued less than its worst possible outcome. Quart. J. Econom. 121(4):1283–1309.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2010) Can uncertainty improve promotions? J. Marketing Res. 47(6):1070–1077.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2011) Seeding strategies for viral marketing: An empirical comparison. J. Marketing 75(6):55–71.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2017) On the role of fairness and social distance in designing effective social referral systems. MIS Quart. 41(3):787–810.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2016) The pandora effect: The power and peril of curiosity. Psych. Sci. 27(5):659–666.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2020) Curiosity and its implications for consumer behavior. Iacobucci D, ed. Continuing to Broaden the Marketing Concept, vol. 17 (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, UK), 223–239.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2016) Uncalculating cooperation is used to signal trustworthiness. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113(31):8658–8663.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2020) Words matter! Toward a prosocial call-to-action for online referral: Evidence from two field experiments. Inform. Systems Res. 31(1):16–36.Link, Google Scholar
- (2021) Impact of incentive mechanism in online referral programs: Evidence from randomized field experiments. J. Management Inform. Systems 38(1):59–81.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2010) Optimal referral bonuses with asymmetric information: Firm-offered and interpersonal incentives. Marketing Sci. 29(1):108–121.Link, Google Scholar
- (2021) Reviewing before reading? An empirical investigation of book-consumption patterns and their effects on reviews and sales. Inform. Systems Res. 32(4):1368–1389.Link, Google Scholar
- (1994) The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psych. Bull. 116(1):75–98.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2018) Self–other differences in decision-making under risk. Experiment. Psych. 65(4):226–235.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2001) Anomalies: Risk aversion. J. Econom. Perspect. 15(1):219–232.Crossref, Google Scholar
- . (2009) Risky shift versus cautious shift: Determining differences in risk taking between private and public management decision-making. J. Bus. Econom. Res. 7(1):63–78.Google Scholar
- (2018) The teasing effect: An underappreciated benefit of creating and resolving an uncertainty. J. Marketing Res. 55(4):556–570.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2007) A penny for your thoughts: Referral reward programs and referral likelihood. J. Marketing 71(1):84–94.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2011) Referral programs and customer value. J. Marketing 75(1):46–59.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2001) Blame avoidance as motivating force in the first price sealed bid private value auction. Debreu G, Neuefeind W, Trockel W, eds. Economics Essays: A Festschrift for Werner Hildenbrand (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg), 333–344.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2011) The optimism bias. Current Biol. 21(23):R941–R945.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2015) The motivating-uncertainty effect: Uncertainty increases resource investment in the process of reward pursuit. J. Consumer Res. 41(5):1301–1315.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2019) The fun and function of uncertainty: Uncertain incentives reinforce repetition decisions. J. Consumer Res. 46(1):69–81.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2022) Doing good for (maybe) nothing: How reward uncertainty shapes observer responses to prosocial behavior. Organ. Behav. Human Decision Processes 168:104113.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2021a) Creating social contagion through firm-mediated message design: Evidence from a randomized field experiment. Management Sci. 67(2):808–827.Link, Google Scholar
- (2021b) Designing promotional incentive to embrace social sharing: Evidence from field and lab experiments. MIS Quart. 45(2):789–820.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2018) How customer referral programs turn social capital into economic capital. J. Marketing Res. 55(1):132–146.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2010) Prospect Theory: For Risk and Ambiguity (Cambridge University Press).Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2018) The impact of uncertain rewards on customers’ recommendation intention in social networks. Internet Res. 28(4):1029–1054.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2005) Playing for peanuts: Why is risk seeking more common for low-stakes gambles? Organ. Behav. Human Decision Processes 97(1):31–46.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2013) The role of metaperception on the effectiveness of referral reward programs. J. Service Res. 16(1):82–98.Crossref, Google Scholar
- (2020) Inhibition or facilitation? A review of research on the effects of uncertainty stimuli on user psychology and behavior. Amer. J. Indust. Bus. Management 10(9):1586–1604.Google Scholar

