Pay to view or pay to ask? The effect of shared questions-and-answers on paid question-and-answer demand

Low user payments have long been a challenge for experts who monetize knowledge on paid question-and-answer (Q&A) platforms. To address this issue, many platforms have introduced a “shared Q&A” service, in which users can pay a nominal fee to access previously generated answers. However, its economic implications for experts remain underexplored. This study proposes that shared Q&As play a dual role in both stimulating and substituting for the demand for paid Q&A services, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship between an expert’s shared Q&A volume and paid Q&A demand. Drawing on the theoretical lens of knowledge transfer, we further propose that this relationship is moderated by knowledge complexity, knowledge context dependence, and knowledge tacitness of shared Q&As. Empirical analyses based on a leading paid Q&A platform support most of the hypotheses. Our findings add prominent contribution to the knowledge payment literature and offer valuable insights into how shared Q&As can be used to increase expert revenue.