Online reviews are a dominant resource for consumer decisions but what leads users to write reviews remains largely unexamined. Extant research on user content generation has primarily focused on what motivates users to contribute content, and less on the effects of informational and social environment surrounding these users. The aim of this study is to examine how a user’s contribution to an ...

The current study investigates whether and how Facebook increases college-age users' subjective well-being by focusing on the number of Facebook friends and self-presentation strategies (positive vs. honest). A structural equation modeling analysis of cross-sectional survey data of college student Facebook users (N=391) revealed that the number of Facebook friends had a positive association wit...

We investigate the scope for cooperation within a community engaged in repeated reciprocal interactions. Players seek the help of others and approach them sequentially according to some fixed order, that is, a ranking profile. We study the ranking profiles that correspond to the social structures that are most effective in sustaining cooperation in equilibrium, that is, social structures that s...

Extending the better than average effect, 3 studies examined self-, friend, and peer comparisons of personal attributes. Participants rated themselves as better off than friends, who they rated as superior to generalized peers. The exception was in direct comparisons, where the self and friends were not strongly differentiated on unambiguous negative attributes. Self-esteem and construal played...