The Determinants and Impacts of Aesthetics in Users First Interaction with Websites

Author List: Jiang, Zhenhui (Jack); Wang, Weiquan; Tan, Bernard CY; YU, JIE;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 2016, Volume 33, Issue 1, Page 229-259.
Though aesthetics is generally acknowledged as an important aspect of website design, extant information systems (IS) research on web user experience has rarely studied what affects website aesthetics and how aesthetics influences users' perceptions of the website and the organization behind the website. In this paper, we synthesize prior literature from different academic domains and propose users' perceived quality of five design elements (i.e., unity, complexity, intensity, novelty, and interactivity) as determinants of website aesthetics. We further theorize the effects of aesthetics on users' attitudes toward the website and their perception of the corporate image. Two studies were conducted to test the research model. In Study 1, we adopted a card sorting method and the results provide substantial support to the determinants of website aesthetics. In Study 2, we conducted a survey using ten company portal websites that were unknown to survey respondents. Our analysis further confirms the effects of users' perceived quality of the five design elements on the perception of website aesthetics. The findings of Study 2 also show that users' perception of aesthetics has significant impacts on perceived utility and their attitudes toward the website, which further affects the corporate image exhibited via the website. In addition, we find that in users' first interaction with a website, perceived aesthetics has a larger impact on their attitudes toward the website than perceived utility. > >
Keywords: corporate image design; complexity design; unity website aesthetics ;web design; website intensity ;website interactivity
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#278 0.395 website users websites technostress stress time online wait delay aesthetics user model image elements longer waiting appeal attract utility internet
#275 0.121 perceptions attitudes research study impacts importance perceived theory results perceptual perceive perception impact relationships basis significant positive reported common individuals
#285 0.101 effects effect research data studies empirical information literature different interaction analysis implications findings results important set large provide using paper
#4 0.095 characteristics experience systems study prior effective complexity deal reveals influenced companies type analyze having basis conducted determine complex comparative drive
#42 0.085 perceived results study field individual support effects microcomputer pressure external usefulness test psychological obligations characteristics variables indicate existence availability investigating
#198 0.065 factors success information critical management implementation study factor successful systems support quality variables related results key model csf importance determinants