Reviews and reputation · Field experiment on an online marketplace
The Value of Platform Endorsement
Bairathi, M., Zhang, X., & Lambrecht, A. (2025). Marketing Science, 44(1), 84–101.
Plain-English take
Endorsements increased search and purchases for endorsed as well as unendorsed services. For your marketing: This shows how a credible third-party signal may lift perceptions of the whole marketplace, not just highlighted listings.
How much weight to give this
3.5/5 Useful evidence with meaningful caveats
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
An experiment is useful for causal evidence, but the accessible profile does not establish random assignment.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
Experimental comparison is described; randomization or control details need checking in the paper.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Blinding is not reported in the source reviewed; that does not establish whether blinding was or was not used.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How does a marketplace's endorsement of selected items affect search and purchases for both endorsed and unendorsed offerings?
Design
Field experiment on an online freelance platform measuring user search and purchase behavior after platform endorsements.
Sample and setting
Users and services on an online freelance marketplace; the abstract does not provide sample size.
Reported result
What the study found
Endorsements increased search and purchases for endorsed as well as unendorsed services. The increase was linked to higher perceived quality of services on the platform and was larger for users with higher purchase propensity.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
One freelance marketplace and platform-specific endorsement. The abstract omits sample size and does not establish that badges have the same effect on a vendor's own website.
Possible founder application
Shows how a credible third-party signal may lift perceptions of the whole marketplace, not just highlighted listings. For SaaS, test proof placement and source credibility separately.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract; full text may require access
INFORMS publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; reported field setting and outcomes were inspected.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.