Signaling mechanisms are prevalent in two-sided markets because they typically help reduce information asymmetry and improve efficiency. While a growing number of studies focus on the actions of signal-senders, there has been little empirical research on how signal-receivers may react to the...

Third-party skill certification is widely used in many markets, online and offline, to address the ubiquitous information asymmetry between workers and employers. In online labor markets, however, the usefulness of third-party certification is not yet fully established in that some leading...