Different effects of provider recommendations and consumer reviews on consumers' shopping efficiency for different product types

Online product recommendations (OPRs) which include provider recommendations (PRs) and consumer reviews (CRs) are widely used in electrical environment to enhance customer loyalty. In this paper, the consumer shopping efficiency consists of screening efficiency and evaluation efficiency while the products are also classified as search products and experience products. We extend a rich theoretical framework which explains the mechanisms how quality of OPRs influences consumers' shopping efficiency and how product type plays the moderating role. Using a survey research with 182 participants, our findings provide strong support for the proposed model. The empirical analyses reveal that higher quality of OPRs is associated with higher consumer shopping efficiency which leads to higher consumer loyalty. What's more, the impacts of quality of PRs on screening efficiency are stronger for experience products than search products. However, the moderating effect of product type on the relationship between quality of CRs and evaluation efficiency is not significant.