A Taxonomy of User-Generated Content (UGC) Applications

User-generated content (UGC) has become well-known in the online context. Previous scholars have investigated UGC in terms of its helpfulness and utilization. Through the study of UGC and its applications, various practical implications including consumer behavior learning, IT system innovation, product search enhancement, user’s value extraction, economic performance evaluation, and other applications have been ascertained and discussed. Until today, the applications of UGC are rapidly evolving. However, there has been little research into how UGC differently applied and operated. Also, little guidance is available for managers and researchers to recognize and compare the applications of UGC between and among the others. This study strives to fulfill the needs of further investigation on UGC applications regarding theory and conceptualization by developing a well-structured taxonomy of UGC applications. Because a taxonomy of UGC applications potentially enables the understanding of the science behind UGC. Eventually, understanding the insight of UGC provides the potential identification of the embedded UGC theories.