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Over-the-top (OTT) services, which provide streaming media through all devices in online setting, have surpassed the traditional content providers in the market. However, there is still no clear empirical evidence that indicates what recommendation agent values affect the users' search experience while using the OTT services and how it leads to continuous subscription. To address this gap, this study aims to examine recommendation agent values influencing search experience, which in turn affects decision satisfaction and continuance intention.

This study empirically develops and tests a research model with data obtained from 212 survey respondents in Korea. Structural equation modeling with partial least square approach was used to analyze the data.

(1) Recommendation agent variables such as match score accuracy, recommended content variety and thumbnail image appeal affect search experience variables such as perceived diagnosticity and perceived serendipity; (2) perceived diagnosticity and perceived serendipity of search experience increase decision satisfaction; and (3) decision satisfaction increases intention to continue to subscribe to OTT services.

Despite the widespread use of recommendation agents in OTT services, limited attention has been paid to understand what specific values of recommendation agents lead subscribers to continue their subscription. The findings of this study clarify subscribers' continuous subscription behavior in OTT services in terms of the recommendation agent values and search experience perspective.

Firms continue to struggle with end users who do not follow recommended actions for safeguarding information security. Thus, the authors utilize insights gained from studies on heuristic processing of risk information to design cues in fear appeal messages more effectively so as to more strongly engender fear among users, which can in turn lead them to take protective actions toward information security. Specifically, four types of fear appeal cues are identified: numeric risk communication, social distance and goal framing in verbal risk communication and visual risk communication.

Drawing from protection motivation theory, the authors hypothesize that these fear appeal cues can engender fear among users to a greater extent. In addition, the authors hypothesize that users will perceive a higher level of severity and susceptibility when they perceive a large amount of fear. The research hypotheses were tested employing data collected through a laboratory experiment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses were performed to analyze the data.

The study's results suggest that numeric and visual risk communication cues in security notices can significantly increase the amount of fear felt by users. In addition, social distance was found to marginally increase the amount of fear felt by users. However, unlike our expectation, goal framing was not found to increase the amount of fear when the other three types of fear appeal cues were also given in a security notice. It was also found that induced fear can increase the severity and susceptibility of threats as perceived by users.

The study contributes to the literature on fear appeal cues designed to promote users' security protection behaviors. No prior study has designed security notices featuring the four different types of fear appeal cues and empirically tested the effectiveness of those cues in inducing fear among users. The findings suggest that the design of fear appeal cues can be improved by understanding individuals' heuristic processing of risk information, which can be subject to cognitive biases.