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The success of e-commerce websites depends on their effective communication and influence on their users. At first glance, the users are impressed by the website design and, if inspired, they would continue their operations on the website. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of visual aesthetic of the Web pages on users’ behavior in online shopping environment. In particular, the paper aims to evaluate the elements of visual aesthetic on the organism variables (i.e. “satisfaction,” “arousal,” “perceived on-line service quality” and “trust”) and measure them on the users’ response (i.e. purchase, comparison and re-visit).

Using the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, the authors first assessed direct and indirect effects of visual aesthetics of e-commerce websites on customer responses. Then, the Visual Aesthetics of Websites Inventory (VisAWI) method was used to examine the effects of four dimensions (i.e. craftsmanship, simplicity, diversity and colorfulness) on users’ perceived website aesthetics. To do so, DigiKala.com, a famous Iranian e-commerce website was selected and the questionnaires were distributed among its users.

The study results revealed that the website aesthetics in the S-O-R evaluation had the greatest direct impact on “perceived quality of online services,” “trust,” “satisfaction” and “arousal,” respectively. These variables also indirectly affected “shopping,” “revisit” and “comparison to similar products on other websites.” Regarding the evaluations based on the VisAWI, the component “craftsmanship” played the most central role in expressing the website aesthetics, followed by the variables “simplicity,” “diversity” and “colorfulness,” respectively.

Although the considerable effect of Web aesthetics on customers’ purchase behavior has been identified in previous research, it has not been accurately measured. Furthermore, studies on Web aesthetics are mostly limited to information systems’ users and do not concern consumers. Therefore, considering the increasing growth in online shopping and the significance of Web aesthetics to online consumers, investigating how consumers respond to Web aesthetics is of vital importance.

This paper aims to empirically explore the influence of website aesthetic attributes (classical and expressive) on customer brand engagement (CBE) intention.

This research develops a framework and a few research hypothesis based on available literature on the concept of aesthetics, aesthetic attribute of websites and CBE, as well as other reliable resources, relevant theories, wherever required and tested it on the data collected from 400 respondents of the Y generation (Gen Y) of India by means of structural equations modelling using SPSS AMOS 21.

The findings indicate that expressive aesthetics of the brand Web pages of the beauty products is positively associated with drawing attention. Expressive aesthetics and classical aesthetics together explained 16% of the variance in attention. This indicates that aesthetic attributes indeed play a role in drawing the attention of the customer. However, mere attention is not sufficient to form the behavioural intention in the customer to engage with that particular brand unless the customer does get fully absorbed with aesthetic attributes of the brand Web pages.

The outcome of this research is based on the view of only 400 Gen Y individuals from the city of Indore in India. This limits its generalizability across India and other country context. This study makes important contribution to brand website aesthetic and CBE literature by empirically investigating the concept of brand website aesthetics as important in interactive marketing approach to initiate CBE intention formation. It further argues that cognitive engagement is the first and foremost engagement dimension and underscores aesthetic attributes as important in forming the customer first perception based on which subsequent CBE behavioural intention develops.

This research adds novel insight in the relationship of the brand website aesthetic attributes and CBE by studying the impact of the aesthetic attribute of brand Web pages on the two cognitive elements, namely, attention and absorption and further its effect on brand behavioural intention taking as sample of Gen Y of India.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between online retail therapy and consumers’ attitudes towards online fashion shopping malls (ATO) based on the stimulus–organism–response model.

This study examined how online retail therapy factors (e.g. the aesthetics of web design and attractiveness of the models) affect consumers’ ATO. In particular, the authors examined the mediation of positive mood reinforcement (PMR) and negative mood reduction (NMR).

The results indicated that aesthetics has a significant and direct effect on ATO. However, model attractiveness has an indirect effect on ATO through PMR and NMR. In addition, the direct effect of aesthetics on ATO is greater than the indirect effect of model attractiveness. Therefore, online fashion shopping malls need to concentrate on improving the aesthetics of the shopping malls. For fashion shopping malls that do not have the capacity to improve the aesthetics, it is possible to improve ATO by using highly attractive models.

This study applied the concept of retail therapy to the online environment and verified the effect. This study expanded the scope of the study of retail therapy by examining the effect of mood improvement on ATO as well. Further, this study examined the structure of two online retail therapy factors, aesthetics and model attractiveness, that affect ATO through PMR and NMR, and suggested managerial implications for online shopping malls.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of hotel aesthetics as represented in online spaces (e.g. online travel agency website) in prospective guests’ evaluation of expected service quality and booking intentions, as well as the interplay between aesthetic and functional values as related to those outcomes.

A scenario-based experimental design is conducted with 203 Chinese respondents. A between-subject two-way multivariate analysis of covariance (high vs low aesthetic value; high vs low functional value), which also controlled for respondents’ individual tendency to appreciate beauty, is used.

Results show that high aesthetic value hotels are more likely to be booked and perceived as able to deliver better services in SERVQUAL dimensions of tangibles, reliability and assurance. There are no significant effects for responsiveness and empathy. Given the presence of the aesthetic effect, hotel functional value has no impact on the outcome variables.

Hotel managers are recommended to employ professional photographer-artists who are aware of the aesthetic value of hotels and can translate this value into information technology-mediated spaces. Such professionals should be able to create a composition that balances the elements of classic (e.g. symmetry vs asymmetry) and expressive (e.g. color) aesthetics.

This research brings out a number of insights from the product experience literature in the hospitality context and points to the limitations of the product visual attractiveness in engendering positive service quality evaluation.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of visual aesthetics as a key in generating satisfaction in student information system (SIS) users and to discover relationships to other antecedents. This work has also studied how gender discriminates those relationships.

DeLone and McLean’s model of information systems success, visual aesthetic and gender socialisation theory are used as a theoretical framework for the study. An explanatory model was proposed based on the previous literature, and then this model was validated using a sample of undergraduate students. Partial Least Squares was chosen as the approach to conduct the statistical analysis.

First, the findings show that the variance explained by the proposed model in user satisfaction of SIS is 67 per cent. Second, visual aesthetics has a significant direct effect on user satisfaction of SIS, but the indirect effect is much higher, through its relationship to system quality and information quality. Third, the results indicate that there are significant differences between men and women in the direct relationship between visual aesthetics and user satisfaction of SIS, and this relationship being much more intense in the case of women.

The study highlights the role of visual aesthetics as a variable that explains user satisfaction in information systems; this fact emphasises on the importance of taking into account aesthetics when designing information systems. In addition, the findings support the existence of a novel relationship between visual aesthetics and information quality. Finally, new evidence on gender differences concerning user satisfaction in information systems is presented; this result indicates in the opposite direction to recent studies that imply a certain homogenisation of gender in relation to the perceptions associated with the technologies of the information.

Few studies illustrate how contextual effects (e.g. assimilation and contrast) in pay-per-click ad design may impact consumers' attitudes and purchase intention. To fill this research gap, the authors provide theoretical predictions and empirical evidence on how ad design may prompt an assimilation and/or a contrast effect that may influence consumers' attitudes toward the ad and the brand and purchase intention. They also investigate whether the impact of contextual effects on consumers' decisions depends on the level of vividness in the ad.

A 2 (vividness: dynamic motion vs. static page) × 2 (information design: assimilation vs. contrast) × 2 (aesthetic design: assimilation vs. contrast) between-subjects experimental design is used to examine the effects of vividness, information design and aesthetic design. Conditional process analysis is used to assess the mediating role of attitudes toward the ad and the brand in the relationship between contextual effects and purchase intention.

For dynamic ads (i.e. high vividness) but not for static ads (i.e. low vividness), combined information contrast and aesthetic contrast designs generate a more favorable attitude toward the brand and a higher purchase intention than do combined information assimilation and aesthetic assimilation designs. Notably, combined information contrast and aesthetic contrast designs have the strongest effects than any other combination of assimilation and contrast designs of information and aesthetics. Attitudes toward the ad and the brand are significant mediators between contextual factors and intention to purchase.

The study examines the effectiveness of online ads from a new theoretical angle based on the attributes of pay-per-click ads.

The results suggest that when advertisers decide to use dynamic ads, they should adopt a contrast design for both the ad information and its aesthetics.

This study fills a research gap in the contextual effects literature, including providing evidence of an underlying process in the relationship between certain contextual effects and purchase intent. It also extends previous findings of assimilation/contrast in information design to aesthetics design and advances the literature on vividness by examining a moderation effect of vividness.

This paper aims to examine the contextual issues relating to the problem of developing web‐based information systems for emergent organisations.

The study employs an action research approach to understand and develop an analytical development tool for web developers. It postulates that existing methods are inadequate in coping with sudden and unexpected changing characteristics within the organisation. The theory of deferred action is used as the basis for the development of an emergent analytical development tool. Many tools for managing change in a continuously changing organisation are susceptible to inadequacy.

The insights proposed are believed to assist designers in developing functional and relevant approaches within dynamic organisational contexts.

The analytical development matrix assists web developers in emergent organisations to develop web‐based information systems.

This paper seeks to analyze the buying behavior of internet users in two European countries with different cultural backgrounds, Spain and The Netherlands, assessing the influence of online experience factors on the choice of an internet vendor. It also aims to identify and compare the influence of personal and behavioral characteristics on the e‐vendor choice.

The study simulated a realistic virtual shopping activity in the computer laboratory; participants had to complete an online shopping assignment and an online questionnaire.

The findings indicate that the basic traits of the online consumer behavior of internet users in the two countries are quite similar. Most of the disparities observed are attributed to different levels of experience with the internet as a commercial channel.

The outcome could suggest the emergence of a global virtual village, an issue worthy of further research but also of particular importance for global web vendors and website designers. The basic limitation of the study is that it is conducted in only two European countries and refers only to online purchasing of a standardized tangible consumer product.

The findings of the study can be translated to web design guidelines useful to online organizations operating in different cultural or ethnic environments.

The paper presents one of the first studies comparing the influence of online experience factors in two culturally different countries.

Consumers as well as hotel web sites are evolving, changing the requirements and expectations for online hotel room reservations. Building on previous research, the purpose of this paper is to explore hotel web site design's influence on site appeal and likelihood to purchase.

The methodology incorporates both qualitative and quantitative methods. College‐age participants visited hotel web sites detailing their impressions. Using a grounded theory‐based approach and regression analysis, web design factors are identified and assessed.

The paper finds a preference for enhanced graphical web site design. This finding contradicts prior studies. The paper also finds continued importance in: ease of use, brand loyalty site content, and site aesthetics.

This paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. The coding of qualitative data can be affected by researcher bias. This paper also suffers from an age and geographic population bias. While this paper suggests that certain factors influence the likelihood to purchase, more extensive definition of these factors is needed. In addition, several factors, which were important in previous studies, have incongruous findings in this paper and need further examination.

The results give direction to the design of effective hotel web sites.

Rapidly evolving internet technologies and consumer behavior generate a need for ongoing research to consumer behavior. A study with valid insight and information completed previously may not accurately reflect today's internet hotel market. The findings are significant: they suggest there has been a shift in consumer preferences.

This study aims to examine how buying environment characteristics, which are not directly associated with price or product information, are related to overall e‐satisfaction; and how e‐satisfaction and e‐loyalty are interrelated.

A convenience sample of 366 female and male college students from three universities (East coast, Midwest and West coast) participated. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling via LISREL 8.0 were conducted.

The findings showed that, of the six dimensions of buying environment characteristics, convenience, web appearance and entertainment value had a direct effect on e‐satisfaction. In addition, the study found a significant positive relationship between e‐satisfaction and e‐loyalty.

Generalizing the results is limited by the use of a convenience sample of college students. To generalize the findings, more diversified random samples across gender and age are suggested.

The research provides useful implications to online retailers concerning which attributes should be given closer attention to improve customer satisfaction and e‐loyalty.

The study provides useful, practical information to online retailers by showing how customer‐centered e‐service attributes have an impact on e‐satisfaction, which in turn influences consumer e‐loyalty.