IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v84y2026ics0160791x25002532.html

Be a contributor or consumer? Effects of subscription on user engagement in knowledge-sharing communities

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Mingli
  • Tong, Xinjia
  • Zhang, Yan
  • Wang, Yu

Abstract

In knowledge-sharing communities, understanding the dynamic impact of subscription on user behavior has become a critical focus for platform management. While existing studies primarily addressed on the motivations behind subscription decisions and continued usage, there is a lack of research on how users' engagement behaviors evolve after subscribing. This paper investigates the transformative effects of users' identity transitions during the subscription process on their engagement behavior, with a particular emphasis on content contribution. Leveraging a dataset of 380,580 users' behavioral records over 32 weeks on Zhihu, we examine users' engagement patterns during the subscription process based on identity theory. By employing dynamic propensity score matching (dynamic PSM) and staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) models, our study reveals that subscriptions have a negative impact on users’ content contribution behavior, while simultaneously fostering a positive effect on content organization behavior. Our findings offer analysis of the implications of subscriptions on user engagement within knowledge-sharing communities, providing actionable insights for platform management.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Mingli & Tong, Xinjia & Zhang, Yan & Wang, Yu, 2026. "Be a contributor or consumer? Effects of subscription on user engagement in knowledge-sharing communities," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:84:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x25002532
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X25002532
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103063?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:84:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x25002532. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.