@inproceedings{3596460b7b0341d69cd45771cf1671ef,
title = "Effect of a monetary incentive on responders{\textquoteright} empathy in online mental health platforms",
abstract = "In this paper, we address the question: how does a monetary incentive influence the empathy expressed in peer users{\textquoteright} and counselors{\textquoteright} responses to questions posted anonymously in online mental health platforms (OMHPs) by individuals suffering from some mental health issue. Rooted in the literature on mental health and empathy and incentives, we hypothesize that a monetary incentive given competitively after passing challenges is likely to increase the expression of cognitive empathy in online responses of all responders in an OMHPs, but the increase in expression of cognitive empathy in online responses will be higher for peer users as compared to counselors. We test our hypotheses using data on 1,455,941 responses to questions from two of the most prominent OMHPs in China in a natural experiment setting after developing a measure of empathy in responses using machine learning methods based on recent approaches from the computer science and medicine fields. Our results provide support to our hypotheses.",
keywords = "empathy, monetary incentive, Online mental health platforms, Q\&A forums",
author = "Junjie Zhou and Rajiv Kishore and Michael Lee",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2023: {"}Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Hu. All Rights Reserved.; 44th International Conference on Information Systems: Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies, ICIS 2023 ; Conference date: 10-12-2023 Through 13-12-2023",
year = "2023",
language = "English",
series = "International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2023: {"}Rising like a Phoenix: Emerging from the Pandemic and Reshaping Human Endeavors with Digital Technologies{"}",
publisher = "Association for Information Systems",
booktitle = "International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2023",
address = "United States",
}