The Effective Type of Information Categorization in Online Curation Service Depending on Psychological Ownership

• Main Authors: Bong-Goon Seo, Do-Hyung Park
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: psychological ownership; categorization; curation service; taxonomic category; goal-derived category
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3321

With the development of the Internet, consumers can acquire a variety of information; however, as the amount of information continuously increases, it becomes difficult for consumers to make decisions. In this era of information overload, online curation services are emerging to help consumers choose the information they want. In these online services, information is grouped and classified according to certain criteria and presented to consumers. In this context, there are typical goal-derived and taxonomic categories in the method of structuring information. This study investigated the effect of category types on the categorization attitude of consumers according to their psychological ownership of online services. To this end, this study confirmed the interaction effect of category types (goal-derived vs. taxonomic) and the degree of psychological ownership (higher vs. lower). As a result, users with higher (as opposed to lower) psychological ownership of online curation services revealed a more effective attitude toward categorization in the goal-derived (as opposed to taxonomic) type. The results of this study suggest implications on how to structure information in consideration of the psychological state of consumers in an online context and are expected to be useful guidelines for practitioners such as service providers, marketers, and UX(User Experience)/UI(User Interface) designers.