A recommendation system serves as a key factor for improving e-commerce users’ satisfaction by providing them with more accurate and diverse suggestions. A significant body of research has examined the accuracy and diversity of a variety of recommendation systems. However, little is known about the psychological mechanisms through which the recommendation system influences the user satisfaction. Thus, the purpose of this study is to contribute to this gap by examining the mediating and moderating processes underlying this relationship. Drawing from the traditional task-technology fit literature, the study developed a moderated mediation model, simultaneously considering the roles of a user’s feeling state and shopping goal. We adopted a scenario-based experimental approach to test three hypotheses contained in the model. The results showed that there is an interaction effect between shopping goals and types of recommendation (diversity and accuracy) on user satisfaction. Specifically, when a user’s shopping goal aligns with recommendation results in terms of accuracy and diversity, the user satisfaction is enhanced. Furthermore, this study evaluated the mediating role of feeling right and psychological reactance for a better understanding of this interactive relationship. We tested the moderated mediation effect of feeling right and the psychological reactance moderated by the user shopping goal. For goal-directed users, accurate recommendations trigger the activation of feeling right, consequently increasing the user satisfaction. Conversely, when exploratory users face accurate recommendations, they activate psychological reactance, which leads to a reduction in user satisfaction. Finally, we discuss the implications for the study of recommendation systems, and for how marketers/online retailers can implement them to improve online customers’ shopping experience.

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推荐系统对用户满意度的影响：有调节的中介方法

推荐系统为电子商务用户提供更准确、更多样化的建议，是提高电子商务用户满意度的关键因素。大量研究检验了各种推荐系统的准确性和多样性。然而，人们对推荐系统影响用户满意度的心理机制知之甚少。因此，本研究的目的是通过检查这种关系背后的中介和调节过程来弥补这一差距。该研究借鉴传统的任务技术契合文献，开发了一种有调节的中介模型，同时考虑了用户的感觉状态和购物目标的作用。我们采用基于场景的实验方法来测试模型中包含的三个假设。结果表明，购物目标和推荐类型（多样性和准确性）之间对用户满意度存在交互作用。具体来说，当用户的购物目标与推荐结果在准确性和多样性方面一致时，用户满意度就会提高。此外，本研究评估了感觉正确和心理反应的中介作用，以更好地理解这种互动关系。我们测试了感觉正确的调节中介效应和用户购物目标调节的心理反应。对于目标导向的用户来说，准确的推荐会触发正确感觉的激活，从而提高用户满意度。相反，当探索性用户面对准确的推荐时，他们会产生心理抵触情绪，从而导致用户满意度下降。最后，我们讨论了推荐系统研究的意义，以及营销人员/在线零售商如何实施推荐系统来改善在线客户的购物体验。