From Free To Fee: Research On User Switch Behavior In Online Knowledge Q&A Platforms

With the advent of the era of sharing economy,the areas involved in sharing products/services are becoming more and more extensive,which gradually penetrates into the knowledge service from the areas of transportation and housing accommodation.Sharing economy promotes the innovation of the operation mode of the knowledge Q&A platform,that is,from free-based knowledge Q&A mode to fee-based knowledge Q&A mode.Although the free-based knowledge Q&A platforms have abundant information,there are many problems in the quality of information,such as redundancy,distortion and time lag,etc.The askers need to spend a lot of time filtering and screening information.Moreover,the askers seldom have the opportunity to communicate directly with the professional answerers because the free-based knowledge Q&A platforms do not provide the convenient channel for directional interaction between the askers and the answerers.In order to find the reliable information quickly,a certain number of askers are willing to switch from free-based to fee-based knowledge Q&A platforms.In addition,the fee-based knowledge Q&A mode effectively realize the cognitive surplus and time surplus of the answerers,which attracts the answerers to switch from free-based to fee-based knowledge Q&A platforms.In this context,this paper intends to explore the askers' and answerers' switch behavior from free-based to fee-based Q&A platforms.In chapter one,the paper elaborates the research background,purpose,significance,content,methods and technology roadmap.The second chapter reviews the related researches of knowledge Q&A platform,adoption and usage of knowledge payment mode,user switch behavior and cognitive lock-in.In the third chapter,based on user experience framework,the paper analyzes the operation mode of the fee-based knowledge Q&A platforms and compares the differences between the fee-based and free-based knowledge Q&A platforms.In the fourth chapter,based on push-pull-mooring theory,the paper combs the influencing factors and patterns of the askers' and answerers' switch behavior by using the critical technique method,andcalculates the weight of each influencing factor by using the entropy method.In the fifth chapter,based on the analysis of the influencing factors of the askers' switch behavior in the fourth chapter,the paper conducts an empirical study on the switch behavior of askers from the perspective of cognitive lock-in based on the theory of status quo bias and push-pull-mooring.In the sixth chapter,based on the result of the influencing factors of the answerers' switch behavior,the paper uses the method of propensity score matching to analyze the influence of whether to perform user authentication and whether to obtain the title of excellent answerer on the answerers' switch behavior.The seventh chapter summarizes the research results,points out the research innovation and contribution of this paper,and provides targeted management suggestions for the fee-based knowledge Q&A platforms.Finally,the author points out the deficiencies of this paper,and prospects the future research in the context of fee-based knowledge Q&A platforms.