Marketers sometimes imbue online recommendation systems with human-like features (anthropomorphism). The current research studies when anthropomorphized recommendation systems are more (or less) effective than non-anthropomorphized ones. In particular, I argue that consumers who focus on experience attributes when searching for products will show more positive attitude towards the products recommended by anthropomorphized recommendation systems, while consumers who focus on search attributes will show more positive attitude towards the products recommended by non-anthropomorphized recommendation systems. One experiment provides support for the hypotheses and sheds light on the underlying mechanism. This research contributes to both anthropomorphism literature and experience/sea...[ Read more ]

Marketers sometimes imbue online recommendation systems with human-like features (anthropomorphism). The current research studies when anthropomorphized recommendation systems are more (or less) effective than non-anthropomorphized ones. In particular, I argue that consumers who focus on experience attributes when searching for products will show more positive attitude towards the products recommended by anthropomorphized recommendation systems, while consumers who focus on search attributes will show more positive attitude towards the products recommended by non-anthropomorphized recommendation systems. One experiment provides support for the hypotheses and sheds light on the underlying mechanism. This research contributes to both anthropomorphism literature and experience/search attribute literature and offers important practical implications.