How to make recommendations on mobile social e-commerce more effective: The role of social features and temporal cues

Abstract

This study explores the role of design affordance of social display features in mobile social e-commerce with recommendations. Building upon the intersection of signaling theory and construal level theory, we address two paradoxes regarding social and temporal cues in recommending (close social distance vs. limited feedback and recency vs. magnitude). The results from four experiments indicate that friend-based feedback induces larger purchases than crowd-based feedback. Temporal distance moderates this relationship. Specifically, when temporal cues indicate proximal distance, recommendations from friends (by showing their feedback) are more persuasive than those from crowds. Conversely, the opposite occurs at further temporal distance.