Epistemic Logic with Evidence and Relevant Alternatives

In this paper I study intentions of the form ‘I intend that we . . .’, that is, intentions with a we-content, and their role in interpersonal coordination. I focus on the notion of epistemic support for such intentions. Using tools from epistemic game theory and epistemic logic, I cast doubt on whether such support guarantees the other agents' conditional mediation in the achievement of such intentions, something that appears important if intentions with a we-content are to count as genuine intentions. I then formulate a stronger version of epistemic support, one that does indeed ensure the required mediation, but I then argue that it rests on excessively strong informational conditions. In view of this I provide an alternative set of conditions that are jointly sufficient for coordination in games, and I argue that these conditions constitute a plausible alternative to the proposed notion of epistemic support.

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How Do Recommender Systems Lead to Consumer Purchases? A Causal Mediation Analysis of a Field Experiment

Information Systems Research ◽

10.1287/isre.2021.1074 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xitong Li ◽

Jörn Grahl ◽

Oliver Hinz

Keyword(s):

Recommender Systems ◽

Mediation Analysis ◽

Search Costs ◽

Consideration Sets ◽

Consideration Set ◽

Relevant Alternatives ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Online Retailers ◽

Causal Mediation Analysis

The findings underscore the important role of consumers’ consideration sets in mediating the positive effects of recommender systems on consumer purchases. Practical strategies can be developed to facilitate the formation of the consideration sets. For example, to reduce consumers’ search costs and cognitive efforts, online retailers can display the recommended products in a descending order according to the predicted closeness of consumers’ preferences. Online retailers can further indicate the predicted closeness scores of consumers’ preferences for the recommended products. Given such a placement arrangement, consumers can quickly screen the recommended products and add the most relevant alternatives to their consideration sets, which should facilitate consumers’ shopping process and increase the shopping satisfaction. The findings also suggest that a larger consideration set due to the use of recommender systems could induce consumers to buy. Yet, it is difficult for consumers to manage many alternatives when the consideration set is very large. To facilitate consumers’ shopping process, online retailers need to consider strategies and tools that help consumers manage the alternatives in the consideration set in a better-organized manner and facilitate the comparison across the alternatives.

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