Priming in Search: A Large-Scale Field Experiment on the Impact of Popular Search Genres in Mobile Shopping

References

• Aarts H, Custers R, Veltkamp M (2008) Goal priming and the affective-motivational route to nonconscious goal pursuit. Soc. Cognition 26(5):555–577.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Adomavicius G, Bockstedt JC, Curley SP, Zhang J (2018) Effects of online recommendations on consumers’ willingness to pay. Inform. Systems Res. 29(1):84–102.Link, Google Scholar
• Alba J, Lynch J, Weitz B, Janiszewski C, Lutz R, Sawyer A, Wood S (1997) Interactive home shopping: Consumer, retailer, and manufacturer incentives to participate in electronic marketplaces. J. Marketing 61(3):38–53.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Anderson JR (2013) The Architecture of Cognition (Psychology Press, New York).Crossref, Google Scholar
• Athey S, Imbens GW (2017) The econometrics of randomized experiments. Banerjee AV, Duflo E, eds. Handbook of Economic Field Experiments, vol. 1 (Elsevier, Amsterdam), 73–140.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bagozzi RP, Dholakia U (1999) Goal setting and goal striving in consumer behavior. J. Marketing 63(4 Suppl 1):19–32.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bapna R, Ramaprasad J, Shmueli G, Umyarov A (2016) One-way mirrors in online dating: A randomized field experiment. Management Sci. 62(11):3100–3122.Link, Google Scholar
• Bayer UC, Gollwitzer PM (2007) Boosting scholastic test scores by willpower: The role of implementation intentions. Self Identity 6(1):1–19.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bettman JR, Luce MF, Payne JW (1998) Constructive consumer choice processes. J. Consumer Res. 25(3):187–217.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bhagwatwar A, Massey A, Dennis A (2018) Contextual priming and the design of 3D virtual environments to improve group ideation. Inform. Systems Res. 29(1):169–185.Link, Google Scholar
• Bullard O, Penner S, Main KJ (2019) Can implicit theory influence construal level? J. Consumer Psych. 29(4):662–670.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Burtch G, Ghose A, Wattal S (2015) The hidden cost of accommodating crowdfunder privacy preferences: A randomized field experiment. Management Sci. 61(5):949–962.Link, Google Scholar
• Chen Y, Yuan Z, Sun T, Chen A (2023) Understanding the impacts of de-personalization in search algorithm on consumer behavior: A field experiment with a large online retail platform. Preprint, submitted April 17, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4412157.Google Scholar
• Dayton E (2022) Amazon statistics you should know: Opportunities to make the most of America’s top online marketplace. Bigcommerce. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-statistics/.Google Scholar
• Dellaert BG, Häubl G (2012) Searching in choice mode: Consumer decision processes in product search with recommendations. J. Marketing Res. 49(2):277–288.Crossref, Google Scholar
• DMR (2022) Meituan statistics, user counts, facts, and news. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/meituan-stats-facts/.Google Scholar
• Escandon (2020) Netflix introduces top 10 to let us know what people are watching. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://www.forbes.com/sites/rosaescandon/2020/02/25/netflix-introduces-top-10-to-let-us-know-what-people-are-watching/?sh=59471767501b.Google Scholar
• Evinent (2025) Mobile search UX & UI design: Improve user experience and increase conversions. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://evinent.com/blog/mobile-search-ux-ui#:˜:text=Searching%20from %20mobile%20devices%20may,is%20not%20crowded%20with% 20options.Google Scholar
• Fang X, Kim S, Chintagunta PK (2026) Too many or too few? Information cues in recommender systems and consequences for search and purchase behavior. J. Marketing 90(1):9–28.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Förster J, Liberman N, Friedman RS (2007) Seven principles of goal activation: A systematic approach to distinguishing goal priming from priming of non-goal constructs. Personality Soc. Psych. Rev. 11(3):211–233.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ghose A, Goldfarb A, Han SP (2013) How is the mobile internet different? Search costs and local activities. Inform. Systems Res. 24(3):613–631.Link, Google Scholar
• Ghose A, Lee HA, Oh W, Son Y (2024) Leveraging the digital tracing alert in virus fight: The impact of COVID-19 cell broadcast on population movement. Inform. Systems Res. 35(2):570–589.Link, Google Scholar
• Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P (2009) Self-regulation of consumer decision making and behavior: The role of implementation intentions. J. Consumer Psych. 19(4):593–607.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P, Trötschel R, Webb TL (2011) Self-regulation of priming effects on behavior. Psych. Sci. 22(7):901–907.Crossref, Google Scholar
• GoogleHelp (2024) About attribution models. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6259715?hl =en.Google Scholar
• Hicks R, Tingley D (2011) Causal mediation analysis. Stata J. 11(4):605–619.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Higgins ET (1998) Promotion and prevention: Regulatory focus as a motivational principle. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 30 (Academic Press, New York), 1–46.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Higgins ET, Rholes WS, Jones CR (1977) Category accessibility and impression formation. J. Experiment. Soc. Psych. 13(2):141–154.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hommel B (2022) GOALIATH: A theory of goal-directed behavior. Psych. Res. 86(4):1054–1077.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Huang P, Lurie NH, Mitra S (2009) Searching for experience on the web: An empirical examination of consumer behavior for search and experience goods. J. Marketing 73(2):55–69.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Imai K, Keele L, Tingley D (2010) A general approach to causal mediation analysis. Psych. Methods 15(4):309.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Imai K, Keele L, Tingley D, Yamamoto T (2011) Unpacking the black box of causality: Learning about causal mechanisms from experimental and observational studies. Amer. Political Sci. Rev. 105(4):765–789.Crossref, Google Scholar
• InteractionDesignFoundation (2023) How to reduce cognitive friction in mobile. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://ixdf.org/literature/article/my-head-hurts-cognitive-friction-in-the-age-of-mobile.Google Scholar
• Jerath K, Ma L, Park Y-H (2014) Consumer click behavior at a search engine: The role of keyword popularity. J. Marketing Res. 51(4):480–486.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kesavan S, Lambert SJ, Williams JC, Pendem PK (2022) Doing well by doing good: Improving retail store performance with responsible scheduling practices at the Gap, Inc. Management Sci. 68(11):7818–7836.Link, Google Scholar
• Lee D, Hosanagar K (2019) How do recommender systems affect sales diversity? A cross-category investigation via randomized field experiment. Inform. Systems Res. 30(1):239–259.Link, Google Scholar
• Lee D, Hosanagar K (2021) How do product attributes and reviews moderate the impact of recommender systems through purchase stages? Management Sci. 67(1):524–546.Link, Google Scholar
• Lee AY, Labroo A (2004) Effects of conceptual and perceptual fluency on affective judgment. J. Marketing Res. 41(2):151–165.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Lehmann DR, O’Shaughnessy J (1974) Difference in attribute importance for different industrial products: A bi-national study analyzes how industrial buyers evaluate different product categories. J. Marketing 38(2):36–42.Google Scholar
• Lei X, Chen Y, Sen A (2026) Trade-offs in leveraging external data capabilities: Evidence from a field experiment in an online search market. Management Sci. 72(4):2998–3015.Link, Google Scholar
• Li L, Chen J, Raghunathan S (2020) Informative role of recommender systems in electronic marketplaces: A boon or a bane for competing sellers. MIS Quart. 44(4):1957–1986.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Li X, Grahl J, Hinz O (2022) How do recommender systems lead to consumer purchases? A causal mediation analysis of a field experiment. Inform. Systems Res. 33(2):620–637.Link, Google Scholar
• Liu J, Toubia O (2020) Search query formation by strategic consumers. Quant. Marketing Econom. 18(2):155–194.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Luo X, Andrews M, Fang Z, Phang CW (2014) Mobile targeting. Management Sci. 60(7):1738–1756.Link, Google Scholar
• Luo X, He C, Hu YJ, Li X, Cheng Y (2025) The impact of mobile data cost on consumer price sensitivity: A study of a hotel booking app. Inform. Systems Res. 36(3):1912–1925.Link, Google Scholar
• Marsh RL, Bink ML, Hicks JL (1999) Conceptual priming in a generative problem-solving task. Memory Cognition 27(2):355–363.Crossref, Google Scholar
• McAlister L (1982) A dynamic attribute satiation model of variety-seeking behavior. J. Consumer Res. 9(2):141–150.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Moe WW (2003) Buying, searching, or browsing: Differentiating between online shoppers using in-store navigational clickstream. J. Consumer Psych. 13(1–2):29–39.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Nedungadi P (1990) Recall and consumer consideration sets: Influencing choice without altering brand evaluations. J. Consumer Res. 17(3):263–276.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Papies EK, Hamstra P (2010) Goal priming and eating behavior: Enhancing self-regulation by environmental cues. Health Psych. 29(4):384–388.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Peng C-H, Yin D, Zhang H (2020) More than words in medical question-and-answer sites: A content-context congruence perspective. Inform. Systems Res. 31(3):913–928.Link, Google Scholar
• Pfeiffer J, Pfeiffer T, Meiβner M, Weiβ E (2020) Eye-tracking-based classification of information search behavior using machine learning: Evidence from experiments in physical shops and virtual reality shopping environments. Inform. Systems Res. 31(3):675–691.Link, Google Scholar
• Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2008) Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behav. Res. Methods 40(3):879–891.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Rowley J (2000) Product search in e‐shopping: A review and research propositions. J. Consumer Marketing 17(1):20–35.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Scheibehenne B, Greifeneder R, Todd PM (2010) Can there ever be too many options? A meta-analytic review of choice overload. J. Consumer Res. 37(3):409–425.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Schulz E, Bhui R, Love BC, Brier B, Todd MT, Gershman SJ (2019) Structured, uncertainty-driven exploration in real-world consumer choice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116(28):13903–13908.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sela A, Shiv B (2009) Unraveling priming: When does the same prime activate a goal versus a trait? J. Consumer Res. 36(3):418–433.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shariff AF, Norenzayan A (2007) God is watching you: Priming God concepts increases prosocial behavior in an anonymous economic game. Psych. Sci. 18(9):803–809.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sharit J, Hernández MA, Czaja SJ, Pirolli P (2008) Investigating the roles of knowledge and cognitive abilities in older adult information seeking on the web. ACM Trans. Comput.-Human Interaction 15(1):3.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Smith ER (1998) Mental representation and memory. Gilbert DT, Fiske ST, Lindzey G, eds. The Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. 1 (McGraw-Hill, Boston), 391–445.Google Scholar
• Son Y, Kwon HE, Tayi GK, Oh W (2020) Impact of customers’ digital banking adoption on hidden defection: A combined analytical–empirical approach. J. Oper. Management 66(4):418–440.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Stilley KM, Inman JJ, Wakefield KL (2010) Planning to make unplanned purchases? The role of in-store slack in budget deviation. J. Consumer Res. 37(2):264–278.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sun C (2025) How does prepopulating search bars with keywords affect online consumer behavior? A field experiment. Marketing Sci. 44(6):1217–1231.Link, Google Scholar
• Sun T, Shi L, Viswanathan S, Zheleva E (2019) Motivating effective mobile app adoptions: Evidence from a large-scale randomized field experiment. Inform. Systems Res. 30(2):523–539.Link, Google Scholar
• Sun T, Yuan Z, Li C, Zhang K, Xu J (2024) The value of personal data in internet commerce: A high-stakes field experiment on data regulation policy. Management Sci. 70(4):2645–2660.Link, Google Scholar
• Telefonica (2024) Use of mobile devices in 2024. Telefonica. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/blog/mobile-devices-2024/.Google Scholar
• Trope Y, Liberman N (2010) Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psych. Rev. 117(2):440–463.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Trope Y, Liberman N (2012) Construal level theory. Van Lange PAM, Kruglanski AW, Higgins ET, eds. Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology (Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA), 1:118–134.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ursu RM, Wang Q, Chintagunta PK (2020) Search duration. Marketing Sci. 39(5):849–871.Link, Google Scholar
• Van Trijp H (1995) Variety-Seeking in Product Choice Behavior: Theory with Applications in the Food Domain (Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, Netherlands).Google Scholar
• Vaughan P (2017) Half of shoppers spend 75% of time conducting online research. HubSpot. Accessed March 1, 2024, https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23996/half-of-shopp ers-spend-75-of-time-conducting-online-research-data.aspx.Google Scholar
• Wan XS, Kumar A, Li X (2024) How do product recommendations help consumers search? Evidence from a field experiment. Management Sci. 70(9):5776–5794.Abstract, Google Scholar
• Wiesenfeld BM, Reyt J-N, Brockner J, Trope Y (2017) Construal level theory in organizational research. Annual Rev. Organ. Psych. Organ. Behav. 4(1):367–400.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Xiao B, Benbasat I (2007) E-commerce product recommendation agents: Use, characteristics, and impact. MIS Quart. 31(1):137–209.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Yoganarasimhan H (2020) Search personalization using machine learning. Management Sci. 66(3):1045–1070.Link, Google Scholar
• Yuan Z, Chen AY, Wang Y, Sun T (2025) How recommendation affects customer search: A field experiment. Inform. Systems Res. 36(1):84–106.Link, Google Scholar
• Zhang Y, Li B, Luo X, Wang X (2019) Personalized mobile targeting with user engagement stages: Combining a structural hidden Markov model and field experiment. Inform. Systems Res. 30(3):787–804.Link, Google Scholar
• Zhang DJ, Dai H, Dong L, Qi F, Zhang N, Liu X, Liu Z, Yang J (2020) The long-term and spillover effects of price promotions on retailing platforms: Evidence from a large randomized experiment on Alibaba. Management Sci. 66(6):2589–2609.Link, Google Scholar
• Zheng S, Tong S, Kwon HE, Burtch G, Li X (2025) Frontiers: Recommending what to search: Sales volume and consumption diversity effects of a query recommender system. Marketing Sci. 44(3):516–524.Link, Google Scholar