Inviting Strangers to Participate in Collaborative Consumption through Mobile App

ABSTRACT

Mobile technology has facilitated an emerging form of consumption practices called collaborative consumption. In this study, we investigate one such manifestation whereby merchants send group discount coupons to nearby consumers and encourage them to invite surrounding people to enjoy the discount together. We are interested to know if timing (morning vs. afternoon) and message framing (active vs. passive mutual helping tone) would increase the chance of an individual deciding to invite strangers (and invite a higher proportion of strangers if they did) to participate in the collaborative consumption. Facilitating the participation among strangers can help elevate the reach and influence of collaborative consumption, allowing its potential to be better exploited. Our field experiment findings show that in general people are more likely to invite strangers (and also a higher proportion of strangers in all their invitations) in the morning than in the afternoon. In addition, a message framed to ask the focal individual to actively help others enjoy the deal (active tone) is more effective than a message framed passively, i.e., to let others help him/her (passive tone) in the morning. However, passive tone framing can induce individuals to invite a higher proportion of strangers in the afternoon if they did invite others. These findings have important implications to merchants and app providers on how to more fully tap into the potential of collaborative consumption via mobile technology.

Funding

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (grant #71522006, #71471044, #71490723).

Notes

¹ Yoghurt is widely regarded as a healthy food in the country context where this study was conducted, i.e., China (see http://www.dairyfoods.com/blogs/14-dairy-foods-blog/post/91277-advice-for-western-dairies-seeking-to-tap-into-chinas-thirst-for-drinkable-yogurts; http://www.dsm.com/markets/foodandbeverages/en_US/news-insights/campaigns/digestibility-drives-yogurt-consumption-in-china.html).

² We do not include the evening time, as sending mobile commercial messages to consumers when they are resting during this time is particularly likely to cause annoyance.

³ The number of people that an individual invited did not alter the extent of group deal discount he/she could obtain. Only if the invitation was successful (i.e., the invitee accepted the invitation) then the two (inviter and invitee) could enjoy the offer together. In addition, one consumer could only purchase one offered product in one day.

⁴ We thank an anonymous reviewer for this insight.

⁵ For examples, https://www.airbnb.com/invite, http://www.sky.com/shop/bundles-offers/introduceafriend/, http://www.verizon.com/home/MLP/ReferAFriendVZ.html

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (grant #71522006, #71471044, #71490723).

Notes on contributors

Hong Chen

Hong Chen is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Information Management and Information Systems, School of Management, Fudan University. His research interests include online social network, knowledge management, and mobile commerce.

Chee Wei Phang

Chee Wei Phang is currently a professor in the Department of Information Management and Information Systems at Fudan University. His research interests include mobile commerce, social media, and IT in public sector. His work has appeared in journals including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Management Information Systems.

Chenghong Zhang

Chenghong Zhang is currently a professor in the Department of Information Management and Information Systems at Fudan University. His research interests include social media, knowledge management, and business intelligence. His work has appeared in journals including the Communications of the ACM, Information & Management, and JASIST, among others.