Shan Jiang, Daqian Shi and Yihang Cheng
The model of pay-for-knowledge incentivizes individuals with financial rewards for sharing their expertise, facilitating a transactional exchange between knowledge providers…
Abstract
Purpose
The model of pay-for-knowledge incentivizes individuals with financial rewards for sharing their expertise, facilitating a transactional exchange between knowledge providers (sellers) and seekers (buyers). While this model is effective in promoting paid contributions, its influence on free knowledge exchanges remains ambiguous, creating uncertainty about its overall impact on platform knowledge ecosystems. This study aims to explore the mechanim of how knowledge payment influences free knowledge contribution. Based on relational signaling theory, this study posits that a buyer’s payment for knowledge acts as a positive relational signal in the buyer–seller relationship and examines how the signaling effect varies across different social contexts through attribution theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper empirically tests the hypotheses by analyzing a data set comprising 630 instances from 359 unique knowledge sellers on Zhihu, a prominent knowledge-sharing platform in China. This paper use zero-inflated negative binomial models to conduct this analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal that when buyers pay for knowledge, this action positively influences sellers to contribute knowledge for free. However, the strength of this influence is moderated by the platform’s social functions: appreciation feedback tends to weaken this effect, while social network ties enhance it.
Originality/value
Prior research has predominantly focused on the financial incentives of pay-for-knowledge and its spillover effects on unpaid users’ activities. This study shifts the focus to the social dimensions of pay-for-knowledge, arguing that buyer-initiated knowledge payments signal buyers’ commitment to foster reciprocal relationships with sellers. It expands the literature on the relationship between knowledge payment and contribution, moving beyond financial incentives to include social factors, thus enriching our understanding of the interplay between paid and free knowledge activities. Additionally, the empirical evidence supports the efficacy of pay-for-knowledge in promoting both free and paid contributions within knowledge-sharing platforms.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons and development trend of the new round of restructuring of regional division of labor in East Asia after the global financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons and development trend of the new round of restructuring of regional division of labor in East Asia after the global financial crisis and the role of China in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper probes into four factors leading to the adjustment of regional division of labor in East Asia before analyzing its development trend trough comparing the change of roles of China and ASEAN in the process.
Findings
After the flying-geese division and regional production network, East Asia’s regional division of labor is getting a new round of structural adjustment. The analysis of this paper shows that this adjustment is mainly due to global financial crisis, post-crisis de-globalization, the rebalancing of East Asian economies and China’s economic transformation. From the adjustment direction, the main trend is ASEAN gradually replacing China to become the new assembly plant area, while China becomes a new manufacturing power by its rising status in the global value chain.
Originality/value
The paper describes the development trend of the new round of restructuring of regional division of labor in East Asia in the future and gives the policy implications for the East Asian countries.