Essays on empirical analysis of behavioral determinants in online platform business

Abstract

Online platform business evolves in various channels and the structures of demand and supply are multi-sided that continuously create new values. Due to the multi-sided structures in the online platform business, access to a large volume of information is possible and various options are presented in decision-making. However, user behaviors in the online platform business are not limited to the online environment boundaries but are determined through the interaction with external circumstances. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to find underlying mechanisms that explain how user behavior is formed and determined in the online platform business, taking into account the connectivity of the online and offline environment. The first essay focuses that how the signal itself as a text review delivered to potential consumers changes depending on the interaction of review sentiment and organizational attributes in the online platform business. And the second essay is to examine the behavioral changes of online entrepreneurs due to psychological stances caused by negative incidents, paying attention to the interaction between the online platform business and the offline environment.