Title
Effects of rational and social appeals of online recommendation agents on cognition- and affect-based trust.
Abstract
Online product recommendation agents (RAs) utilize rational and social appeals to enhance their persuasive power. However, the underlying mechanisms of how these various appeals work are still not clear. In this study, a laboratory experiment was conducted to examine the differential effects of explanation facilities and avatar interfaces as instances of rational and social appeals, respectively. We investigated (1) the effects of these appeals on cognition- and affect-based trust, and (2) the distinct persuasive outcomes of cognition- and affect-based trust.The results show that explanation facilities significantly enhance users' cognition-based trust. Meanwhile, avatar interfaces have a significant positive impact on users' affect-based trust, but only for those who rate the avatar as highly professional. Besides, our findings attest to the fact that cognition-based trust mainly delivers the utilitarian value (perceived usefulness), while affect-based trust mainly contribute to the hedonic value (perceived enjoyment) of using a RA. RAs utilize two types of appeals to convince online shoppers: rational and social.Explanation facilities (as an instance of rational appeal) positively influence cognition-based trust.Avatar interfaces (as an instance of social appeal) positively influence affect-based trust only when the avatar is perceived as professional.User's cognition-based and affect-based trusts have different consequences.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1016/j.dss.2016.03.007
Decision Support Systems
Keywords
Field
DocType
Recommendation agent,Explanation,Avatar,Trust,Cognition,Affect
Social psychology,Appeal,Advertising,Computer science,Laboratory experiment,Knowledge management,Cognition,Avatar
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
86
C
0167-9236
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
17
0.53
33
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Weiquan Wang154223.89
Lingyun Qiu231815.27
Dongmin Kim31043.94
Izak Benbasat42598174.49