Do Computers Sweat? The Impact of Perceived Effort of Online Decision Aids on Consumers' Satisfaction with the Decision Process

In the context of online shopping, a major change in the consumer decision-making cognitive process is the partial shift of effort from consumers to electronic decision aids. The objective of this article is to investigate consumers' perception of the "effort" expended by decision aids and how this perception influences their satisfaction with the decision process. The findings of two laboratory experiments show that, in comparison to human decision aids, consumers believe that electronic aids exert less effort but save them an equal level of effort. It is also shown that consumers' satisfaction with the search process is positively associated with their perception of effort saved for them by electronic aids.