Research on the Use, Characteristics, and Impact of e-Commerce Product Recommendation Agents: A Review and Update for 2007–2012

Abstract

Recommendation agents (RAs) are software agents that elicit the interests or preferences of individual consumers for pro- ducts, either explicitly or implicitly, and make recommenda- tions accordingly. RAs have the potential to support and im- prove the quality of the decisions consumers make when searching for and selecting products online. They can reduce the information overload facing consumers, as well as the complexity of online searches. Prior research on RAs has focused mostly on developing and evaluating different under- lying algorithms that generate recommendations. This paper instead identifies other important aspects of RAs, namely RA use, RA characteristics, provider credibility, and factors re- 1Dov Te'eni was the accepting senior editor for this paper. Joey George was the associate editor. Moez Limayem, Patrick Chau, and Mark Silver served as reviewers. lated to product, user, and user–RA interaction, which influ- ence users’ decision-making processes and outcomes, as well as their evaluation of RAs. It goes beyond generalized models, such as TAM, and identifies the RA-specific features, such as RA input, process, and output design characteristics, that affect users’ evaluations, including their assessments of the usefulness and ease-of-use of RA applications. Based on a review of existing literature on e-commerce RAs, this paper develops a conceptual model with 28 propositions derived from five theoretical perspectives. The propositions help answer the two research questions: (1) How do RA use, RA characteristics, and other factors influence consumer decision making processes and outcomes? (2) How do RA use, RA characteristics, and other factors influence users’ evaluations of RAs? By identifying the critical gaps between what we know and what we need to know, this paper identifies potential areas of future research for scholars. It also pro- vides advice to information systems practitioners concerning the