Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4138-7833

Date of Award

7-31-2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (PhD)

Department

Marketing

First Advisor

Dr. Naveen Donthu

Second Advisor

Dr. Yi Zhao

Third Advisor

Dr. Wesley J. Johnston

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Sarang Sunder

Abstract

With the rapid pace of technology innovation (e.g., smart devices, faster internet), collaborative content generation has become a widespread phenomenon observed in diverse settings (e.g., YouTube, Open-Source Projects, Wikipedia, and Scientific Journals). In an evolving collaborative environment, content creators also build social capital across different content distribution channels (CDCs), which facilitates access to available resources and opens pathways for various social learning processes. Due to engagement on multiple CDCs/platforms, user participation on one channel can also influence the performance on another channel (e.g., a content creator on YouTube can utilize his/her Facebook network for promoting new videos). Building on the literature in creativity and social capital/network theory, we examine the evolution of collaborative networks across different CDCs and their impact on the channel- and content-level performance outcomes. We use the AMA, a leading platform engaged with the scholarly content publication, for our study context and examine the evolution of collaborative network structure across all four disparate CDCs – JM, JMR, JIM, and JPPM. At the aggregate level, we share empirical evidence supporting an inverted U-shaped relationship between global elements of the collaborative network (connectedness and cohesiveness) and channel-level impact. Using the panel autoregressive (PVAR) modeling approach, we also examine the coevolution of various elements of a collaborative group’s social capital across multiple CDCs and their impact on content performance. Our findings highlight the differential impact of various elements of a collaborative group's social capital on content development and dissemination processes. Our results also show that elements of a collaborative group's social capital from different CDCs coevolve and can directly or indirectly impact the performance of the content published on the focal CDC. The channel- and content-level analysis findings also provide important insights to practitioners. Using our proposed framework, key stakeholders (e.g., content creators, channel operators) can take a holistic approach to understand the evolution of a collaborative network on a CDC and its impact on the channel- and content-level performance outcomes. Channel operators can understand the value of a content creator's social capital across different CDCs and better assess his/her potential for various engagement activities (e.g., seeding, production, promotion). Our findings also guide content creators in identifying the critical elements of a collaborative group’s social capital that can help in content adoption across different CDCs.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/30267716

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