Paper Number
ECIS2026-1103
Paper Type
CRP
Abstract
Recommender systems (RS) are central to shaping consumer choices in e-commerce but remain largely optimized for accuracy and sales rather than sustainability. This study examines how RS can motivate sustainable consumption and influence environmentally responsible behaviour. Drawing on Affordance-Actualization Theory (AAT), we conducted an interpretive qualitative study based on eight semi-structured interviews with Swedish consumers to explore how sustainability cues in RS are perceived, trusted, and acted upon. The findings show that while RS can encourage sustainable options, their effectiveness depends on transparency, authenticity, autonomy, and alignment with personal values, alongside price and convenience. The study contributes to AAT by refining and elaborating how affordances are actualized in practice, highlighting partial and unsuccessful actualization, the mediating role of trust and authenticity, and the temporal dynamics of this process. It also provides empirical insights from a critical case setting and translates them into design recommendations for sustainability-aware RS. More broadly, it contributes to IS debates on digital sustainability by framing sustainability as a core IS design principle.
Recommended Citation
Rafles, Alfriyadi; Stenström, Hilda; and Chatzipanagiotou, Niki, "Designing Sustainability-Aware Recommender Systems: An Affordance-Actualization Perspective On E-Commerce" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 2.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/is_resil/isresilience/2
Designing Sustainability-Aware Recommender Systems: An Affordance-Actualization Perspective On E-Commerce
Recommender systems (RS) are central to shaping consumer choices in e-commerce but remain largely optimized for accuracy and sales rather than sustainability. This study examines how RS can motivate sustainable consumption and influence environmentally responsible behaviour. Drawing on Affordance-Actualization Theory (AAT), we conducted an interpretive qualitative study based on eight semi-structured interviews with Swedish consumers to explore how sustainability cues in RS are perceived, trusted, and acted upon. The findings show that while RS can encourage sustainable options, their effectiveness depends on transparency, authenticity, autonomy, and alignment with personal values, alongside price and convenience. The study contributes to AAT by refining and elaborating how affordances are actualized in practice, highlighting partial and unsuccessful actualization, the mediating role of trust and authenticity, and the temporal dynamics of this process. It also provides empirical insights from a critical case setting and translates them into design recommendations for sustainability-aware RS. More broadly, it contributes to IS debates on digital sustainability by framing sustainability as a core IS design principle.