Abstract

Over the past decade, online platforms have experienced significant growth, both in terms of user interest and the range of services they offer. These platforms now provide a wide array of services, from groceries (e.g., Instacart) and transportation (e.g., Uber, Lyft) to entertainment (e.g., TikTok, Twitch). Understanding how individuals interact with these platforms is crucial, not only for the platforms’ success but also for assessing their broader societal impact. In my research, I employ a range of empirical methods—including field experiments, natural experiments, and online experiments—to explore how online platforms can intentionally and unintentionally influence behaviors." In Chapter 1, “The Impact of Customer Information on Service Supply and Demand: Evidence From a Large Live-Streaming Experiment", we study how the introduction of customer information at the beginning of a live-streaming encounter impacts both supply and demand. First, we conducted a field experiment on a live-streaming platform. For broadcasters randomly assigned to the treatment condition, when a viewer entered their shows, information including their username and the page they entered from appeared on the screen. Broadcasters in the control condition saw no such message. On the supply side, treatment broadcasters expanded service supply by 12.62% by increasing both show frequency (3.31%) and show length (7.10%) relative to control broadcasters. Our intervention also increased service demand, measured by an increase of 4.51% viewer watch time. Using four online experiments, we provide insights into the mechanisms. On the broadcaster side, seeing the viewer information increases how vividly their perceive viewers, which increases their sense of appreciation from the viewers, which increases their motivation. Participants acting as treatment broadcasters are also more likely to personalize the service for their viewers. On the viewer side, in reaction to the more personalized serviced, participants acting as treatment viewers are more likely to interact with the broadcaster. This increase in social interaction increases the viewers’ enjoyment as well as the motivation of the broadcasters. In Chapter 2, “The Impact of Ridesharing Platforms on Healthcare Access", we use a natural experiment in Austin — the abrupt exit and re-entry of Uber and Lyft in May 2016 and May 2017 — to investigate the impact of ridesharing platforms on healthcare access for Medicare patients. We find that while the initial exit of Uber and Lyft had an insignificant impact, their subsequent re-entry led to an 8.0% decrease in total claims filed by medical providers. We further show that providers with higher percentages of low-income patients, those treating patients with greater health risk, and providers who are less accessible by public transportation are disproportionately affected. We then demonstrate two ways that increased transportation costs, both financial and in terms of convenience, are important drivers behind the observed effect. First, using traffic data, we show that the presence of ridesharing corresponded to an increase in traffic, likely increasing the inconvenience of traveling to healthcare visits. Second, we provide evidence that the re-entry of Uber and Lyft negatively impacted nonprofit transportation organizations that serve older people and individuals with mobility problems. Our investigation of the mechanisms suggests that ridesharing platforms, aided by federal funding, need to devote more resources to bridging the gap between the transportation they offer and the nonprofit transportation they seem to be replacing.

Committee Chair

Dennis Zhang

Committee Members

Bing Bai; Fuqiang Zhang; Hengchen Dai; Jacob Feldman; Lingxiu Dong

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Author's Department

Supply Chain, Operations, and Technology

Author's School

Olin Business School

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

5-22-2025

Language

English (en)

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