Evaluating the communication (interfaces) between decision makers and product recommendation agents in E-business to improve industrial productivity

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The large variety and amounts of products available on the Internet have given rise to the need for decision support systems that can assist users in choosing the "right" products. The long-term research program focuses on improving the interfaces that facilitate the communication between decision-makers and web-based product Recommendation Agents (RAs) that provide assistance by eliciting the purchasing needs of decision-makers and making recommendations accordingly. The objective is to make RAs more personalized and understanding of users' needs, more flexible to use, and more transparent and trustworthy in order to increase their utilization in e-procurement. This will enhance the productivity of buyers, industrial workers and professionals by realizing the benefits of web-based procurement for themselves and their organizations. In addition to reducing information overload and improving procurement quality, the proposed program of studies is important for the following reasons. First, adoption of recommendation technology is still in its early stages. Surveys show that finding information about new sources of supply is the most important use of the Internet, therefore RAs would be especially valuable for individuals and firms purchasing products over the Internet. Second, practitioners have realized that the user interfaces to RAs are crucial to make it easy for buyers to discover new product content. As such, we aim to improve the input side of the interface between users and the RAs (e.g., how best does the RA elicit users' preferences of product attributes), and to enhance the output side of the interface (e.g., how an RA's advice be best presented to user). Third, users' trust is a key success factor for e-commerce and RA utilization. This project proposes new ways to enhance users' trust by making RAs' reasoning more transparent and credible to the users. Practitioners can benefit from this work by reengineering their RA interfaces both to gain competitive advantage and to make purchasing decision-making more effective.