Online Recommendation Systems in a B2C E-Commerce Context: A Review and Future Directions

Seth Li, Elena Karahanna
2015 Journal of the AIS  
Research Article An online recommendation system (RS) involves using information technology and customer information to tailor electronic commerce interactions between a business and individual customers. Extant information systems (IS) studies on RS have approached the phenomenon from many different perspectives, and our understanding of the nature and impacts of RS is fragmented. The current study reviews and synthesizes extant empirical IS studies to provide a coherent view of research on RS
more » ... and identify gaps and future directions. Specifically, we review 40 empirical studies of RS published in 31 IS journals and five IS conference proceedings between 1990 and 2013. Using a recommendation process theoretical framework, we categorize these studies in three major areas addressed by RS research: understanding consumers, delivering recommendations, and the impacts of RS. We review and synthesize the extant literature in each area and across areas. Based on the review and synthesis, we surface research gaps and provide suggestions and potential directions for future research on recommendation systems. Sinha, 2009 ). However, a customization system does not actively "recommend" anything to consumers. Rather, it provides consumers options from which to choose (e.g., Dell allows a consumer to choose a CPU model from a list of CPUs). In addition, these options are the same across all consumers-they are not personalized to individual consumers. Therefore, we do not consider customization systems as recommendation systems and, thus, do not include studies on customization in our review. An interactive decision aid system is broader than a RS. As Häubl and Thrifts (2000) discuss, RS (which they term "recommendation agent") is a specific type of interactive decision aid tool, which can generate personalized recommendations based on a consumer's pre-specified preferences. Another type, which is not a RS, is the comparison matrix, which allows consumers to compare product attributes. Thus, a RS is a type of interactive decision aid system but not all interactive decision aid systems are a RS.
doi:10.17705/1jais.00389 fatcat:4f6uhejzirejjb7xfn4syydchu