Canalization or increased diffusion? An empirical analysis on the impact of the recommendation system in the mobile app market

Charles Zhechao Liu, Mohsen M. Jozani, Kim Kwang Raymond Choo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Online retailers have increasingly adopted product recommendation systems as an effective tool to improve product visibility and promote sales. This study examines the impact of the recommendation system in the popular Google Play mobile app store. By analyzing a 60-day panel dataset with 235,638 observations from 9,735 apps, we investigate how the characteristics of the recommended apps relative to those of the focal apps affect the adoption of mobile apps in this volatile market. Our results show that the relative strength of the recommended apps over the focal app plays a key role in influencing the outcome of recommendations. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the recommendations as represented by the diversity of the popularity of the recommended apps is positively associated with a more even distribution of revenue in the market. These findings provide insights for mobile app market operators to enhance the design of their recommendation systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 51st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2018
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages1432-1441
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133119
StatePublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event51st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2018 - Big Island, United States
Duration: Jan 2 2018Jan 6 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2018-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference51st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBig Island
Period1/2/181/6/18

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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