Abstract: Why do some firms act quickly on user reviews while others ignore them? And why are some types of feedback more likely to prompt product changes than others? This paper investigates how producers learn from user-generated content in platform-hosted communities, focusing on how review content and producer identity shape responsiveness. Using a novel dataset from the Steam video game platform and applying natural language processing to categorize reviews by topic and sentiment, I find that design-related feedback is more likely to trigger updates—particularly when user sentiment is negative. In contrast, large firms are more responsive to reliability concerns, while small studios show little reaction to functional criticism. These findings suggest that producers engage in selective learning, shaped not only by what users say but also by how producers interpret that feedback based on capabilities and stakeholder expectations. The study contributes to research on user innovation, digital platforms, and strategic learning by revealing how firms filter knowledge in high-volume, decentralized environments.
Abstract: In 2009, the Chinese government launched the policy of national innovative cities to support the innovation of firms in selected regions. But the unintended consequence of the policy is unclear \xl{at the inventor level, in particular on those foreign inventors, who have experience working with Chinese firms that are exposed to the policy intervention. Our research is guided by the research question:} \textit{How does government support influence foreign inventors who have collaborated with domestic firms before?} By employing the difference-in-differences (DiD) technique in the quasi-experimental setting, we examine the influence of the government intervention on the foreign partners. We find that foreign inventors who have established the relationship with firms in selected cities experience an increase in collaborators and innovations. We further show that inventors with less patent stock take better advantage of cross-border government support. Taken together, findings of the study suggest that government support can facilitate unintended cross-border knowledge flows, and strengthen the innovation performance of ``treated'' foreign inventors.