Multi-Channel Utilization in Goal-Pursuit Platforms
by
Department Chair / McCord Chair in Business / Professor of Information Systems
W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University
Friday, March 22, 2019
10:30 AM – noon
Speakman Hall Suite 200
Abstract
With increasing ubiquity of mobile devices, goal-pursuit platforms have seen tremendous development as they provide individuals important capabilities for achieving user goals. Assisting users in effectively and efficiently attaining their goal is the key to the success of both the users’ and the goal-pursuit platforms. In this research, we developed a set of hypotheses based on affordance and goal pursuit theory to predict how multi-channel adoption improves goal pursuit. We utilized a unique proprietary database from a goal-pursuit platform based in the U.S. to construct a panel data set. Based on the data set, we leverage a quasi-natural experiment to examine the effect of multi-channel adoption on goal pursuit. The empirical results show that multi-channel adoption improves overall goal pursuit intensity and activeness. Most notably, compared with active users, previously inactive users show higher goal pursuit intensity after the mobile channel was made available. Further, we also observe preliminary evidence of a complementary relationship between PC and mobile channels and we demonstrate that multi-channel adoption creates monetization benefits for the goal-pursuit platforms.