暨复旦大学2025年校庆报告会

时   间：2025年5月20日（周二） 14:30-16:00

地   点：管理学院思源楼524室

主题： Platform Certification and Consumer Verification

主讲人：李娇阳 印第安纳大学凯利商学院副教授

主持人：田林 复旦大学管理学院教授

Abstract: The rise of online platforms has brought public concerns about the quality of products sold on platforms by third-party sellers. In response, many platforms have launched certification programs to endorse selected sellers. Consumers are increasingly gaining access to tools that enable them to verify product quality independently. This raises two key questions: How should platforms design certification programs and set commission rates when consumers either have or lack the ability to verify products? Furthermore, how do the two quality assurance mechanisms—platform certification and consumer verification—interact with sellers' price signaling to shape market outcomes separately and jointly? We use a Bayesian persuasion model to analyze the platform's information design, accounting for these strategic interplays. Our analysis reveals three key insights: First, when consumers lack independent verification, the platform may intentionally withhold sellers' quality information in its certification design. As the opportunity cost for sellers to join the platform increases, the platform adjusts the informativeness of certification and the commission rate in a nonmonotonic manner. Second, introducing consumer verification can induce sellers to distort prices, prompting the platform to implement a more transparent certification program to mitigate price distortions. Third, although both certification and verification enhance market transparency, they affect the involved parties differently. Platform certification consistently benefits the platform and sellers but may reduce consumer or social welfare in the absence of consumer verification. Surprisingly, empowering consumers with verification tools can harm consumers and society regardless of whether a certification program is in place.

Bio:

Krista Li is the Blanche “Peg” Philpott Professor, Associate Professor, and Doctoral Program Coordinator of Marketing at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Krista’s research focuses on improving firms’ marketing strategies by understanding consumer behavior and leveraging new technology (big data, digital transformation, livestreaming, and AI). Her research also helps policy makers design regulations to promote better marketing for a better world. Krista’s research has appeared in Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and Strategic Management Journal. Krista has extensive editorial experience serving as an Associate Editor for Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, and Decision Sciences, as a Guest Associate Editor for Management Science, as a Senior Editor for Production and Operations Management; and as an Editorial Review Board member for the Journal of Marketing Research. She received the inaugurate Marketing Science Service Award as an Associate Editor in 2023 and the Marketing Science Award – Associate Editor in 2025.