Question

r.d. lawrence et al. found that a recommender system (rs)—an algorithm that generates personalized product suggestions for online shoppers—impacted consumer behavior and increased sales, a result that was corroborated by dokyun lee and kartik hosanagar. however, lee and hosanagar also determined that whereas an rs had a stronger positive effect on item views for utilitarian products (e.g., dish detergents) than for hedonic products (e.g., music albums), the rs had a stronger positive effect on likelihood of purchase for hedonic products than for utilitarian ones. information in the text best supports which statement about recommender systems? a) while recommender systems can affect consumer behavior toward suggested products, those effects are not uniform in nature and strength across product categories. b) by directing customers toward specific product categories on a retailers website, recommender systems may limit the variety of items seen by online shoppers. c) by proposing the most useful options to consumers, recommender systems boost the online visibility of utilitarian items that otherwise tend to be overlooked. d) while recommender systems cause consumers to spend more time viewing utilitarian items such as dish detergents, recommender systems positive effect on purchase rates is likely limited to hedonic items such as music albums.

Explanation:

The text discusses the impact of recommender systems on consumer behavior for different types of products (hedonic like music albums and utilitarian like dish - detergents). It mentions that RS has a stronger positive effect on hedonic products' purchase likelihood. Option A is incorrect as it's not about non - uniform effects across products. Option B is wrong as it's not about limiting product variety. Option C is not related to the main idea of differential effects on product types. Option D is correct as it aligns with the idea that consumers may overlook utilitarian items due to time spent on hedonic items with the help of RS.

Answer:

D. While recommender systems cause consumers to spend more time viewing utilitarian items such as dish detergents, recommender systems' positive effect on purchase rates is likely limited to hedonic items such as music albums.