IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v66y2020i9p4047-4070.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Steering in Online Markets: The Role of Platform Incentives and Credibility

Author

Listed:
  • Moshe A. Barach

    (Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455)

  • Joseph M. Golden

    (Collage.com, Brighton, Michigan 48116)

  • John J. Horton

    (Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142; National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138)

Abstract

Platform marketplaces can potentially steer buyers to certain sellers by recommending or guaranteeing those sellers. Money-back guarantees—which create a direct financial stake for the platform in seller performance—might be particularly effective at steering as they align buyer and platform interests in creating a good match. We report the results of an experiment in which a platform marketplace—an online labor market—guaranteed select sellers for treated buyers. The presence of a guarantee strongly steered buyers to these guaranteed sellers, but offering guarantees did not increase sales overall, suggesting financial risk was not determinative for the marginal buyer. This preference for guaranteed sellers was not the result of their lower financial risk, but rather because buyers viewed the platform’s decision to guarantee as informative about relative seller quality. Indeed, a follow-up experiment showed that simply recommending the sellers that the platform would have guaranteed was equally effective at steering buyers.

Suggested Citation

  • Moshe A. Barach & Joseph M. Golden & John J. Horton, 2020. "Steering in Online Markets: The Role of Platform Incentives and Credibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(9), pages 4047-4070, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:66:y:2020:i:9:p:4047-4070
    DOI: 10.287/mnsc.2019.3412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.287/mnsc.2019.3412
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.287/mnsc.2019.3412?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher T. Stanton & Catherine Thomas, 2016. "Landing the First Job: The Value of Intermediaries in Online Hiring," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 83(2), pages 810-854.
    2. Bruce McWilliams, 2012. "Money-Back Guarantees: Helping the Low-Quality Retailer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1521-1524, August.
    3. Jennifer L. Doleac & Luke C.D. Stein, 2013. "The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(11), pages 469-492, November.
    4. Grossman, Sanford J, 1981. "The Informational Role of Warranties and Private Disclosure about Product Quality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 461-483, December.
    5. John J. Horton, 2019. "Buyer Uncertainty About Seller Capacity: Causes, Consequences, and a Partial Solution," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3518-3540, August.
    6. Feng Zhu & Qihong Liu, 2018. "Competing with complementors: An empirical look at Amazon.com," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(10), pages 2618-2642, October.
    7. Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright, 2015. "Controlling Versus Enabling - Online Appendix," Harvard Business School Working Papers 16-004, Harvard Business School, revised Jul 2016.
    8. Eli M. Snir & Lorin M. Hitt, 2003. "Costly Bidding in Online Markets for IT Services," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1504-1520, November.
    9. Hema Yoganarasimhan, 2013. "The Value of Reputation in an Online Freelance Marketplace," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(6), pages 860-891, November.
    10. Geoffrey Heal, 1977. "Guarantees and Risk-Sharing," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 549-560.
    11. Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright, 2015. "Controlling Versus Enabling," Harvard Business School Working Papers 16-002, Harvard Business School, revised Jul 2016.
    12. Agrawal, Ajay & Lacetera, Nicola & Lyons, Elizabeth, 2016. "Does standardized information in online markets disproportionately benefit job applicants from less developed countries?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-12.
    13. Moshe A. Barach & Aseem Kaul & Ming D. Leung & Sibo Lu, 2019. "Strategic Redundancy in the Use of Big Data: Evidence from a Two-Sided Labor Market," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 298-322, December.
    14. Michael Spence, 1977. "Consumer Misperceptions, Product Failure and Producer Liability," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 561-572.
    15. Coase, R H, 1979. "Payola in Radio and Television Broadcasting," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 269-328, October.
    16. Nancy A. Lutz, 1989. "Warranties as Signals under Consumer Moral Hazard," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(2), pages 239-255, Summer.
    17. Basil Halperin & Benjamin Ho & John List & Ian Muir, 2018. "Toward an understanding of the economics of apologies: evidence from a large-scale natural field experiment," Natural Field Experiments 00644, The Field Experiments Website.
    18. Amanda Pallais, 2014. "Inefficient Hiring in Entry-Level Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3565-3599, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Apostolos Filippas & John J. Horton & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 2020. "Owning, Using, and Renting: Some Simple Economics of the “Sharing Economy”," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(9), pages 4152-4172, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John J. Horton, 2019. "Buyer Uncertainty About Seller Capacity: Causes, Consequences, and a Partial Solution," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3518-3540, August.
    2. Philip H. Dybvig & Nancy A. Lutz, 1993. "Warranties, Durability, and Maintenance: Two-sided Moral Hazard in a Continuous-Time Model," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 575-597.
    3. Hinloopen, Jeroen & Zhou, Liting, 2019. "Insuring product markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 5-8.
    4. Jason Chan & Jing Wang, 2018. "Hiring Preferences in Online Labor Markets: Evidence of a Female Hiring Bias," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 2973-2994, July.
    5. Junhong Chu & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2009. "Quantifying the Economic Value of Warranties in the U.S. Server Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 99-121, 01-02.
    6. Braesemann, Fabian & Stephany, Fabian & Teutloff, Ole & Kässi, Otto & Graham, Mark & Lehdonvirta, Vili, 2021. "The polarisation of remote work," SocArXiv q8a96, Center for Open Science.
    7. Subramanian Balachander, 2001. "Warranty Signalling and Reputation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(9), pages 1282-1289, September.
    8. Sawoong Kang, 2006. "Return Policy as a Signaling Device in Horizontally Differentiated Products," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 22, pages 409-436.
    9. Martin Lukac & André Grow, 2021. "Reputation systems and recruitment in online labor markets: insights from an agent-based model," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 207-229, May.
    10. Daughety, Andrew F & Reinganum, Jennifer F, 1995. "Product Safety: Liability, R&D, and Signaling," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1187-1206, December.
    11. Shiou Shieh, 1996. "Price and Money‐Back Guarantees as Signals of Product Quality," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 361-377, September.
    12. V. Padmanabhan, 1995. "Usage Heterogeneity and Extended Warranties," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 33-53, March.
    13. Moshe A. Barach & Joseph M. Golden & John J. Horton, 2019. "Steering in Online Markets: The Role of Platform Incentives and Credibility," NBER Working Papers 25917, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Desai Preyas S & Padmanabhan Paddy, 2004. "Durable Good, Extended Warranty and Channel Coordination," Review of Marketing Science, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-25, January.
    15. Yili Hong & Chong (Alex) Wang & Paul A. Pavlou, 2016. "Comparing Open and Sealed Bid Auctions: Evidence from Online Labor Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 49-69, March.
    16. Boom, Anette, 1998. "Product risk sharing by warranties in a monopoly market with risk-averse consumers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 241-257, January.
    17. Robert E. Martin, 2011. "The College Cost Disease," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14179.
    18. David Hakes & Dongsoo Shin, 2008. "Warranties as a device to extract rent from low-risk users of a product," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 1-7.
    19. Bo Jiang & Xubing Zhang, 2011. "How Does a Retailer's Service Plan Affect a Manufacturer's Warranty?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(4), pages 727-740, April.
    20. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, January.

    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:inm:ormnsc:v:66:y:2020:i:9:p:4047-4070. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Matthew Walls (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.