The Effects of Web Personalization on Influencing Users' Switching Decisions to a New Website

Numerous firms are taking advantage of interactive technologies to personalize their interactions with users. They invest many resources in personalization to provide personalized services of higher quality in the hope of more business opportunities and higher customer satisfaction. Despite the proliferation of personalized web services worldwide, prior research on how personalization attracts users to switch to a personalized website is minimal. If this question is left unanswered, online firms do not know whether their investment can be justified. Our research examines how users’ web experience and their perceptions towards personalization influence their attitudes towards switching to two types of personalized websites, online shopping websites and search engines. A survey study with 192 Internet users was conducted. The findings show that personalization plays different roles of attracting users in the context of search engines and online shopping sites. Internet users want useful personalized services, but at the same time, they are concerned with the manner in which firms use their data for personalization. If the involvement of Internet users with their current site is high, then personalized services are not attractive enough to motivate them to migrate from one site to another.