IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_9886.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Quality Certificates Alleviate Consumer Aversion to Sponsored Search Advertising

Author

Listed:
  • Xiang Hui
  • Meng Liu

Abstract

We study consumer response towards sponsored search advertising and how to improve advertising performance on a large e-commerce platform. Our research design is based on a field experiment which randomizes the salience of ad disclosure to consumers, and a natural experiment which eradicates a listing-level quality certificate for all listings because of a system glitch. Results suggest that consumers dislike search advertising in our setting, but quality certificates mitigate this aversion and increase advertising sales.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiang Hui & Meng Liu, 2022. "Quality Certificates Alleviate Consumer Aversion to Sponsored Search Advertising," CESifo Working Paper Series 9886, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9886
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp9886.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susan Athey & Glenn Ellison, 2011. "Position Auctions with Consumer Search," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1213-1270.
    2. Paul Resnick & Richard Zeckhauser & John Swanson & Kate Lockwood, 2006. "The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 9(2), pages 79-101, June.
    3. Maryam Saeedi, 2019. "Reputation and adverse selection: theory and evidence from eBay," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(4), pages 822-853, December.
    4. Liran Einav & Chiara Farronato & Jonathan Levin, 2016. "Peer-to-Peer Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 615-635, October.
    5. David Dranove & Ginger Zhe Jin, 2010. "Quality Disclosure and Certification: Theory and Practice," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(4), pages 935-963, December.
    6. Raluca M. Ursu, 2018. "The Power of Rankings: Quantifying the Effect of Rankings on Online Consumer Search and Purchase Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 530-552, August.
    7. Brett Hollenbeck & Sridhar Moorthy & Davide Proserpio, 2019. "Advertising Strategy in the Presence of Reviews: An Empirical Analysis," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(5), pages 793-811, September.
    8. Avi Goldfarb & Catherine Tucker, 2011. "Online Display Advertising: Targeting and Obtrusiveness," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 389-404, 05-06.
    9. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1986. "Price and Advertising Signals of Product Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 796-821, August.
    10. Xiang Hui & Ginger Zhe Jin & Meng Liu, 2022. "Designing Quality Certificates: Insights from eBay," NBER Working Papers 29674, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Weijia Dai & Michael Luca, 2020. "Digitizing Disclosure: The Case of Restaurant Hygiene Scores," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 41-59, May.
    12. Michael Luca, 2011. "Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-016, Harvard Business School, revised Mar 2016.
    13. 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.
    14. Bryan Bollinger & Phillip Leslie & Alan Sorensen, 2011. "Calorie Posting in Chain Restaurants," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 91-128, February.
    15. Sridhar Narayanan & Kirthi Kalyanam, 2015. "Position Effects in Search Advertising and their Moderators: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 388-407, May.
    16. Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2016. "Advertising Content and Television Advertising Avoidance," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 51-72, April.
    17. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    18. Thomas Blake & Chris Nosko & Steven Tadelis, 2015. "Consumer Heterogeneity and Paid Search Effectiveness: A Large‐Scale Field Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 155-174, January.
    19. Dellarocas, Chrysanthos, 2003. "The Digitization of Word-of-mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms," Working papers 4296-03, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    20. Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2003. "The Digitization of Word of Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(10), pages 1407-1424, October.
    21. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Raymond Fisman & Brian McManus, 2015. "Market Structure, Reputation, and the Value of Quality Certification," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 83-108, November.
    22. Avi Goldfarb & Catherine Tucker, 2011. "Rejoinder--Implications of "Online Display Advertising: Targeting and Obtrusiveness"," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 413-415, 05-06.
    23. Marc Rysman, 2004. "Competition Between Networks: A Study of the Market for Yellow Pages," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(2), pages 483-512.
    24. Hana Choi & Carl F. Mela, 2019. "Monetizing Online Marketplaces," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 948-972, November.
    25. Przemys?aw Jeziorski & Sridhar Moorthy, 2018. "Advertiser Prominence Effects in Search Advertising," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1365-1383, March.
    26. Xiang Hui & Maryam Saeedi & Zeqian Shen & Neel Sundaresan, 2016. "Reputation and Regulations: Evidence from eBay," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(12), pages 3604-3616, December.
    27. Luís Cabral & Ali Hortaçsu, 2010. "The Dynamics Of Seller Reputation: Evidence From Ebay," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 54-78, March.
    28. Song Yao & Carl F. Mela, 2011. "A Dynamic Model of Sponsored Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 447-468, 05-06.
    29. Sungsik Park & Woochoel Shin & Jinhong Xie, 2021. "The Fateful First Consumer Review," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 40(3), pages 481-507, May-June.
    30. Kaiser, Ulrich & Song, Minjae, 2009. "Do media consumers really dislike advertising? An empirical assessment of the role of advertising in print media markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 292-301, March.
    31. Anna E. Tuchman & Harikesh S. Nair & Pedro M. Gardete, 2018. "Television ad-skipping, consumption complementarities and the consumer demand for advertising," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 111-174, June.
    32. Ginger Zhe Jin & Phillip Leslie, 2003. "The Effect of Information on Product Quality: Evidence from Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 409-451.
    33. Steven Tadelis, 2016. "Reputation and Feedback Systems in Online Platform Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 321-340, October.
    34. Chiara Farronato & Andrey Fradkin & Bradley Larsen & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2020. "Consumer Protection in an Online World: An Analysis of Occupational Licensing," NBER Working Papers 26601, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Xiang Hui & Meng Liu & Tat Chan, 2023. "Targeted incentives, broad impacts: Evidence from an E-commerce platform," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 493-517, December.

    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. Wei Zhou & Zidong Wang, 2020. "Competing for Search Traffic in Query Markets: Entry Strategy, Platform Design, and Entrepreneurship," Working Papers 20-12, NET Institute.
    2. Weijia Dai & Hyunjin Kim & Michael Luca, 2023. "Frontiers: Which Firms Gain from Digital Advertising? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 429-439, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Andreas J. Steur & Mischa Seiter, 2021. "Properties of feedback mechanisms on digital platforms: an exploratory study," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 479-526, May.
    5. Alberto Bracci & Jorn Boehnke & Abeer ElBahrawy & Nicola Perra & Alexander Teytelboym & Andrea Baronchelli, 2021. "Macroscopic properties of buyer-seller networks in online marketplaces," Papers 2112.09065, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2022.
    6. Paul Belleflamme & Martin Peitz, 2018. "Inside the Engine Room of Digital Platforms: Reviews, Ratings, and Recommendations," Working Papers halshs-01714549, HAL.
    7. Ginger Zhe Jin & Zhentong Lu & Xiaolu Zhou & Chunxiao Li, 2020. "The Effects of Government Licensing on E-commerce: Evidence from Alibaba," NBER Working Papers 27884, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Peitz, Martin & Reisinger, Markus, 2014. "The Economics of Internet Media," Working Papers 14-23, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    9. Lingfang (Ivy) Li & Steven Tadelis & Xiaolan Zhou, 2020. "Buying reputation as a signal of quality: Evidence from an online marketplace," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(4), pages 965-988, December.
    10. Gesche, Tobias, 2018. "Reference Price Shifts and Customer Antagonism: Evidence from Reviews for Online Auctions," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181650, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Raluca M. Ursu, 2018. "The Power of Rankings: Quantifying the Effect of Rankings on Online Consumer Search and Purchase Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 530-552, August.
    12. Zemin (Zachary) Zhong, 2022. "Chasing Diamonds and Crowns: Consumer Limited Attention and Seller Response," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 4380-4397, June.
    13. Apostolos Filippas & John Horton & Joseph M. Golden, 2017. "Reputation in the Long-Run," CESifo Working Paper Series 6750, CESifo.
    14. Yogesh V. Joshi & Andres Musalem, 2021. "When Consumers Learn, Money Burns: Signaling Quality via Advertising with Observational Learning and Word of Mouth," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 168-188, January.
    15. Shengjun Mao & Sanjeev Dewan & Yi-Jen (Ian) Ho, 2023. "Personalized Ranking at a Mobile App Distribution Platform," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 811-827, September.
    16. Xu Guan & Yulan Wang & Zelong Yi & Ying‐Ju Chen, 2020. "Inducing Consumer Online Reviews Via Disclosure," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(8), pages 1956-1971, August.
    17. Andrey Simonov & Shawndra Hill, 2021. "Competitive Advertising on Brand Search: Traffic Stealing and Click Quality," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(5), pages 923-945, September.
    18. Sherry He & Brett Hollenbeck & Davide Proserpio, 2022. "The Market for Fake Reviews," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(5), pages 896-921, September.
    19. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    20. Joseph Golden & John Joseph Horton, 2021. "The Effects of Search Advertising on Competitors: An Experiment Before a Merger," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 342-362, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sponsored search advertising; quality certificates; e-commerce;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_9886. 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.

    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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.