Motivated by the rise of social media platforms that achieve a fusion of content and community, we consider the role of word-of-mouth communications (WOM) structured through a network. Using a dataset from YouTube, we examine how cascades of WOM interactions enhance the popularity of videos. We...

The emergence of crowdfunding could significantly ease the burden of raising funds for startup companies, and ultimately transform the nature of entrepreneurship and new firm creation. Under traditional funding mechanisms, entrepreneurs face considerable difficulties in obtaining external...

Given the limited research into the impact of social media on offline sales of durable goods, this study examines the dynamic relationships between firm-generated content (FGC), user-generated content (UGC), traditional media, and offline light vehicle sales. Data were collected from the...

Opinion spammers exploit consumer trust by posting false or deceptive reviews that may have a negative impact on both consumers and businesses. These dishonest posts are difficult to detect because of complex interactions between several user characteristics such as review velocity, volume, and...

Content on non-profit user-generated content (UGC) platforms, such as Wikipedia, is generally created and maintained as open-collaboration projects by UGC communities who are also users of these platforms. Furthermore, the financial sustainability of these platforms depends on funding from...