Finger Extension and Flexion: How Does the Trackpad Orientation Influence Product Evaluation in Social Media?

With the increasing prevalence of recommendation engine in social media, more research attention have been shifted towards understanding how can we influence better product evaluation from social media users. Multiple aspects of the design of the social media website have been extensively examined. However, in this study, we take a novel perspective by looking at the influence of users’ actual physical behavior (bodily movement) during a viewing session. Three experiments are designed to examine how different trackpad orientations (natural vs. reversed) of laptop influence consumers’ evaluation and memory of the recommended product displayed in social media. We predict that natural trackpad orientation will cause distinct perceptions of information processing fluency, resulting in differences in their evaluations and memories of the products online. The results are expected to show that when using natural scrolling, the high level of processing fluency are more likely to induce more positive evaluations but worse memory. In addition, we will demonstrate that shopping motivation will moderate the relationship. When consumers are conducting goal-oriented online shopping, the superior (inferior) effect of fluency on evaluation (memory) for natural orientation over reversed orientation will be weakened.