The Role of Online Social Recommendation and Similarity of Preferences: In Two Stage Purchase Decision Making Process

온라인 추천정보와 선호 유사성의 역할: 2단계 구매 의사 결정 모델을 중심으로

In this study, we try to understand the role of online social recommendation and the similarity of preferences between the recommender and the recommendee on consumer decisions in the framework of the two stage purchase decision-making process. Applying construal level theory to our context, we expect that the role of social recommendation and the similarity of preferences would vary over the stages in the two-stage decision making process. To test our hypotheses, we collected the data through an incentive compatible experiment, and analyzed the data with nested logit model. As a result, we found that the role of online social recommendation varies over the stages. Consumers take recommendation from similar others at the stage of consideration set formation, but no longer consider it at the stage of final choice. Consumers take recommendation from dissimilar others at the stage of consideration set formation. At the stage of final choice, however, consumers avoid choosing the option recommended by dissimilar others. The results of our study enrich the understanding about the role of social recommendation, and have implication to marketing practitioners who attempt to make online social recommendation system more efficient.