Motivating User-Generated Content Contribution with Voluntary Donation to Content Creators

摘要

Donating money to online content creators is gaining popularity in the last few years, especially in Mainland China. Different from mandatory payment mode (e.g., pay subscription fee to access online content), despite some user-generated content (UGC) is free and openly available, audiences are allowed to voluntarily donate money to content creators after their consumption. As a relatively new phenomenon, little is known about audiences' donation behavior. Drawing on value-based adoption model (VAM), this study unearths perceived value as a key factor that determines audiences' donation behavior. In addition, antecedents of perceived value are explored, including the benefits (hedonic benefit, utilitarian benefit, and social benefit) and sacrifice (perceived fee) of UGC consumption. A conceptual framework with following hypotheses is then proposed: (1) benefits of UGC consumption are positively related to perceived value, (2) sacrifice of UGC consumption is negatively related to perceived value, (3) perceived value of UGC positively influences audiences' intention to donate money to content creators. Data will be collected to test the framework and verify the hypotheses in the future. Donating for UGC is an emerging topic in new media era, and this study represents the first step toward explaining voluntary donation behavior in UGC consumption.