Personalized recommendation and short-form video addiction tendency: the mediating effect of flow and the moderating effect of self-control

BACKGROUND: In recent years, short-form video addiction has severely impacted college students’ academic performance, physical and mental health, and social functioning. It has become a widespread public concern that remains unresolved. Existing research has predominantly focused on individual and family environmental factors influencing short video addiction tendency, as a pivotal technological feature of short-form video platforms, the relationship between personalized recommendation and short video addiction tendency still requires further empirical investigation. Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory and the Individual-Context Interaction theory as the primary theoretical frameworks, this study constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency, along with the mediating role of flow and the moderating role of self-control. METHODS: A random sampling method was used to recruit 2,646 college students (1,585 female, 1,061 male; Mean age = 18.83, SD = 1.13) in China to complete online questionnaires assessing personalized recommendations, short-form video addiction tendency, flow, and self-control. Data were analyzed using Model 15 of the SPSS macro PROCESS to test the moderated mediation model. RESULTS: After controlling for gender, age, and average daily usage time, personalized recommendations not only directly and positively predicted short-form video addiction tendency but also indirectly predicted it through the mediation of flow. Self-control moderated both the positive relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency and the positive relationship between flow and short-form video addiction tendency. CONCLUSION: This study provides empirical evidence for the positive relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency. By investigating flow as a mediator and self-control as a moderator, this study contributes to a systematic understanding of short-form video addiction tendency antecedents and offers insights for future interventions. Future research could employ longitudinal or experimental designs to further examine the relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency, as well as compare the differential effects of perceived versus objective personalization on short-form video addiction tendency.