Regulatory Mode and Acceptance of Online Recommendations

In an online shopping environment, marketers often facilitate customers’ product purchases by providing product recommendations (e.g., ‘recommended,’ ‘you may also like,’ ‘staff pick,’ ‘we recommend’) (Zhang et al., 2018). Despite the prevalence of online product recommendations, findings regarding their effectiveness are disputed and at times contradictory. There is a need for additional research to identify when and for whom product recommendations are appropriate. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of product recommendations is critically dependent upon individual differences in regulatory mode orientation (i.e., how individuals approach goal pursuit).