Different but equal? The impact of personal incentives and platform incentives on user-generated content in online mental health communities

The rapid growth of online mental health communities (OMHCs) has transformed how users share experiences and seek support. Grounded in signaling theory and the empathy-altruism hypothesis, this study explores the differential effects of personal and platform incentives on user-generated content within OMHCs. Utilizing 257,649 questions and their corresponding 667,266 answers data from a leading Chinese OMHC, we investigate how these types of incentives influence the quantity and quality of answers, with a particular focus on the moderating role of crisis intensity and information amount of the question. Our findings indicate that personal incentives significantly increase the quantity of answers while exhibiting a lower impact on the quality of answers compared to platform incentives. Moreover, we discover that crisis intensity and information amount of the question positively moderate the effect of personal incentives on both the quantity and quality of answers compared to platform incentives, suggesting that urgent or detailed inquiries foster deeper engagement and contextual understanding among respondents. These insights contribute to the theoretical framework of incentive mechanisms and online user engagement, offering practical implications for users and OMHC managers. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd.