Online shoppers increasingly care about social and environmental aspects, yet labels and logos often fail to enter the decision-making process because they struggle to win attention. With conversational shopping assistants shifting from product lists to purchase conversations, how ethical considerations are explained becomes a communication problem as much as a retrieval problem. In an eye-tracking study (N=20, 27 presentation formats), long and medium explainers, i.e. sentences adding ethical information about the product (≈ 40 and 20 words) were awarded a higher willingness-to-pay than short ones (10 words). Gaze showed a conservation of attention: fixation counts stayed roughly stable as length increased, while fixation duration rose in longer explainers, yielding more diluted attention per word yet deeper processing. These results provide attention-linked evidence that longer messages about ethical aspects can be effectively integrated in explanation-forward product conversations. We argue that conversation-first systems are particularly suited to contextualise responsibility-related product information within a purchase decision, supporting informed choices without overloading users.

Despite a growing desire among consumers to shop responsibly, translating this intention into behaviour remains challenging.Previous work has identified that information seeking (or lack thereof) is a contributing factor to this intention-behaviour gap.In this paper, we hypothesize that searching can bridge this gap -helping consumers to make purchasing decisions that are better aligned with their values.We conducted a task-based study with 308 participants, asking them to search for information on one of eight ethical aspects regarding a product they were actively shopping for.Our findings show that actively searching for such information led to an overall increase in the importance participants' assigned to ethical aspects.However, it was the recognition and understanding of ethical considerations, rather than ethical intentions or search activity, that drove shifts towards more responsible purchasing decisions.Participants who acknowledged and filled knowledge gaps in their decision making showed significant behaviour change, including increased searching and a stronger desire to alter their future shopping habits.We conclude that responsible consumption can be considered a partial information problem, where awareness of one's own knowledge limitations may be the catalyst needed for meaningful consumer behaviour change.

Millions of consumers search for products online each day, aiming to find items that meet their needs at an acceptable price. While price and quality are major factors in purchasing decisions, ethical considerations increasingly influence consumer behavior -giving rise to the socially responsible consumer. Insights from a recent survey of over 600 consumers reveal that many barriers to ethical shopping stem from information-seeking challenges, often leading to decisions made under uncertainty. These challenges contribute to the intention-behaviour gap, where consumers' desire to make ethical choices is undermined by limited or inaccessible information and inefficacy of search systems in supporting responsible decision-making. In this perspectives paper, we argue that the field of Information Retrieval (IR) has a critical role to play by empowering consumers to make more informed and more responsible choices. We present three interrelated perspectives: (1) reframing ethical consumption as an information extraction problem aimed at reducing information asymmetries; (2) redefining product search as a complex task requiring interfaces that lower the cost and burden of responsible search; and (3) reimagining search as a process of knowledge calibration that helps consumers bridge gaps in awareness when making purchasing decisions. Taken together, these perspectives outline a path from query to conscience - one where IR systems help transform everyday product searches into opportunities for more ethical and informed choices. We advocate for the development of new and novel IR systems and interfaces that address the intricacies of socially responsible consumerism, and call on the IR community to build technologies that make ethical decisions more informed, convenient, and aligned with economic realities.

Search is increasingly driven by casual-leisure motivations in favor of task-driven needs. This shift has culminated in ‘the urge to search’, where uncertainty serves as a potent ‘wanting’ state. Beyond this known influence on seeking intentions, this study examines the qualitative impact of uncertainty vis-à-vis interest (‘liking’) on search engagement and uncertainty reduction. In a study with 77 participants, 16 general knowledge questions manipulated participants’ uncertainty in their knowledge. Participants had the option to search for answers, and judged their knowledge both before and after searching. Results show that uncertainty motivates focused attention. A structural equation model reveals two distinct engagement processes for uncertainty reduction, involving either interest or focused attention and reward. This study is the first to show how different qualities of search engagement reduce uncertainty in a controlled setting. The findings underscore the value of providing rewarding and interesting opportunities for personal growth, transcending the impulse to search. • Need-want-like model of seeking motivations introduced. • Wanting (uncertainty) and liking (interest) evaluated in a controlled setting. • Uncertainty promotes behavioral engagement and focused attention. • Uncertainty reduction follows on interested or focused-rewarding engagement. • The urge to search should be met with rewarding opportunities for learning.

The increasing prominence of “Socially Responsible Consumers” has brought about a heightened focus on the ethical, environmental, social, and ideological dimensions influencing product purchasing decisions. Despite this emphasis, studies have consistently revealed a significant gap between individuals’ intentions to be socially responsible and their actual purchasing behaviors: they often choose products that do not align with their values. This paper aims to investigate the role of “search” and it how influences this gap. Our investigation involves an online survey of 286 participants, where we inquire about their search behaviors and whether they considered various dimensions—ranging from price and features to environmental, social, and governance issues — in relation to a recent purchase. Contrary to expectations of a clear intention-behavior gap, our findings suggest most participants exhibited indifference or lack of awareness regarding these “responsible” aspects. While, for those participants who were more ethically minded, they reported difficulties related to searching for and acquiring information regarding such aspects, which contributed to the gap. Our findings suggests that part of the intention-behaviour gap can be framed as an information seeking problem. Moreover our findings motivate the development of search systems and platforms that better help support consumers make more informed and responsible purchasing decisions.

Abstract Information qualities such as usefulness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness are to some extent subjective. Information resources have different meanings to different people and at different moments. This apparent subjectivity hinders indexing based on qualities for retrieval and filtering purposes. We conceptualize this as the subjectivity problem and address it through two studies. Study One explores whether, on public fora, people consider qualities as claims they should agree upon. Study Two explores, through a vignettes study, which conditions foster this inter‐subjective validity of quality claims. We conclude that information qualities become agreeable given the right set of conditions. We discuss the need for transparency about information qualities and quality considerations in order to offer these conditions to end users.

Whilst individual users seem rather ill-equipped to judge information quality on their own, conversations between users about information quality on sensitive topics are found to be characterized by personal attacks and disputational talk. In this study, we investigate whether users are better able to judge information qualities during conversations on everyday topics instead. We analyze a total of 268 quality and credibility judgements from four discussion threads on Reddit on their positivity and conversational style. Results confirm the occurrence of quality conversations with a constructive, positive style on everyday topics. We conclude that conversations are more constructive when identity concerns are limited.

Abstract Knowing what information a user wants is a paramount challenge to information science and technology. Implicit feedback is key to solving this challenge, as it allows information systems to learn about a user's needs and preferences. The available feedback, however, tends to be limited and its interpretation shows to be difficult. To tackle this challenge, we present a user study that explores whether tracking the eyes can unpack part of the complexity inherent to relevance and relevance decisions. The eye behavior of 30 participants reading 18 news articles was compared with their subjectively appraised comprehensibility and interest at a discourse level. Using linear regression models, the eye‐tracking signal explained 49.93% (comprehensibility) and 30.41% (interest) of variance (p < .001). We conclude that eye behavior provides implicit feedback beyond accuracy that enables new forms of adaptation and interaction support for personalized information systems.

Work in Progress Share on Information Quality in Information Interaction and Retrieval: Workshop proposal for CHIIR 2022 Authors: Frans van der Sluis Department of Communication, University of Copehagen, Denmark Department of Communication, University of Copehagen, DenmarkView Profile , Catherine Smith Kent State University, United States Kent State University, United StatesView Profile , Toine Bogers Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark Aalborg University Copenhagen, DenmarkView Profile , Florian Meier Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark Aalborg University Copenhagen, DenmarkView Profile Authors Info & Claims CHIIR '22: ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and RetrievalMarch 2022 Pages 371–373https://doi.org/10.1145/3498366.3505798Published:14 March 2022Publication History 0citation56DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads56Last 12 Months56Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

How to provide users a positive experience during interaction with information (i.e., the “Information eXperience” (IX)) is still an open question. As a starting point, this work investigates how the emotion of interest can be influenced by modifying the complexity of the information presented to users. The appraisal theory of interest suggests a “sweet spot” where interest will be at its peak: information that is novel and complex yet still comprehensible. This “sweet spot” is approximated using two studies. Study One develops a computational model of textual complexity founded on psycholinguistic theory on processing difficulty. The model was trained and tested on 12,420 articles, achieving a classification performance of 90.87% on two classes of complexity. Study Two puts the model to its ultimate test: Its application to change the user's IX. Using 18 news articles the influence of complexity on interest and its appraisals is unveiled. A structural equation model shows a positive influence of complexity on interest, yet a negative influence of comprehensibility, confirming a seemingly paradoxical relationship between complexity and interest. By showing when complexity becomes interesting, this paper shows how information systems can use the model of textual complexity to construct an interesting IX.

As widely recognized, there is more to relevance than topicality. By looking at the user experience of Information Retrieval (IR), this proposal takes a broader perspective on relevance. Several facets of relevance are structured according to how the user will experience an information object. In particular, the antecedents and consequences of positive affect are discussed. The consequences of positive affect are related to the goal of an IR system, whereas features to derive the antecedents of positive affect from information objects are proposed. The features are combined in a model of relevance, consisting of three factors: topicality, understandability, and affective value. Moreover, it is discussed how the model can be evaluated through methods based on user studies.