“THEINFLUENCEOFPSYCHOLOGICALMOTIVATIONSANDAI RECOMMENDATIONQUALITYONBINGEWATCHINGBEHAVIORAND EMOTIONALBURNOUTAMONGGENERATIONZOTTUSERS”

Abstract

The rapid growth of digital streaming platforms has significantly changed the way

people consume entertainment content, especially among younger generations. With

the increasing availability of AI-driven recommendations and on-demand access,

binge-watching has become a dominant behavior among OTT (Over-The-Top)

platform users. The main objective of this study is to investigates the psychological

and technological factors influencing binge-watching behavior and its subsequent

impact on emotional burnout among Generation Z OTT platform users in Bangladesh.

Grounded in the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), the research model integrates

traditional user-driven motives entertainment, escapism, and social influence

alongside a modern system-driven factor, AI recommendation quality, to explore their

direct and indirect effects on binge-watching and emotional outcomes. Using a

quantitative research design, data were collected from 302 valid respondents through

structured online and offline surveys. SmartPLS 4.0 was employed to analyze the

measurement and structural models, testing reliability, validity, and path coefficients.

The results show that entertainment, social influence, and AI recommendation quality

have a significant positive influence on binge-watching behavior. However, escapism

does not show a significant relationship with binge-watching. Most importantly,

binge-watching behavior has a strong and direct impact on emotional burnout,

indicating that excessive content consumption may lead to negative psychological

outcomes. The study contributes both theoretically and practically by bridging

user-centered media theories with algorithmic influence, and by identifying

binge-watching as a central behavioral mechanism linked to digital mental health

concerns. Practical implications include the need for ethical AI design, media literacy

education, and interventions promoting mindful media consumption among young

OTT users. While the study offers significant insights, it acknowledges, limitations

related to sample size, geographic scope, cross-sectional design, and the use of

self-reported online surveys. For future research, it is recommended to expand the

sample across more diverse regions, employ longitudinal or mixed-method

approaches, and explore other relevant psychological or behavioral variables. Data

could also be collected through in-person interviews or paper-based surveys for

broader insight.