Earticle

초록

영어

Consumers increasingly purchase products online and actively seek sustainable and responsible products. However, we know little about how online platforms can improve customers’ search experience for these products. We examine how platforms’ certification of sustainable and responsible products affects the sales of certified products, as well as the types of certified products that benefit the most. We analyze Amazon's Climate Pledge Friendly program and find that Amazon’s certification increases the sales of certified products significantly. We also find that products with more reviews experience more significant sales increase after receiving the certification. This suggests that, unlike quality certification, social certification complements other popular reputation systems such as ratings and user-generated reviews. Additionally, we find that certification substantially boosts sales for products from small businesses. Our findings imply that consumers face search frictions in finding products that match their multifaceted preferences despite the presence of review and rating systems.

목차

Abstract
Introduction
Data and Empirical Strategy
Setting
Natural Experiment
Sample Construction
Economic Specification
Outcome variables
Main Results
Averae Treatment Effects
Heterogeneity by Firm Size and Prior Reputation Level
Conclusion
Reference

저자

• Ohchan Kwon [ School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ]
• Jee-Eun Shin [ Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto ]
• Hyungsoo Lim [ School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ]

참고문헌