| dc.description.abstract | A review of previous research about visual aesthetics revealed inconsistencies and
contradicting views. Due to the important role of visual aesthetics in the online environment,
a more thorough understanding of the construct was beneficial. Therefore, the first aim of
this thesis was to develop a new structural framework of the dimensions of visual website
aesthetics based on a review of previous research findings and theories. This
conceptualisation process revealed that visual aesthetics can be explained by six dimensions,
each of which are defined, named, pre-tested and studied.
The six dimensions were named affective appeal, appropriate appeal, functional appeal,
harmonic appeal, original appeal and personal appeal. Affective appeal refers to consumers’
emotions towards the website and their mood at the time of interaction. Appropriate appeal
refers to how a website relates to other websites in the same category. A website has
functional appeal when consumers easily can navigate and use the website, and harmonic
appeal refers to the websites overall balance, attractiveness, clean design and symmetry.
Original appeal relates to the novelty of a website and personal appeal refers to a website’s
degree of customisation and personalisation, as well as the level of two-way-communication
and interaction.
The pre-test of the dimensions revealed a possibility for intercorrelation among them, likely
caused by the use of different termination in previous research. However, due to a small
sample and a simple study design, the pre-test was not considered definite enough to
overwrite previous validated research results. The dimensions were subject to further testing
through an online survey. An analysis of the results using structural equation modelling
(SEM) confirmed that some of the defined dimensions were highly correlated. Based on this
intercorrelation, two of the categories, appropriate appeal and functional appel, were
removed from the sample. This does not necessarily imply that the composition of the
dimensions should be moderated, as each are firmly grounded on findings from previous
research. However, it does imply that there are other variables that could influence the
importance of visual aesthetics, for instance the type of service the website provides or the
amount of competitors the website has. Identifying these variables can provide further
insight into visual website aesthetics.
Visual aesthetics was hypothesised to influence both the consumers’ trust in the website and
their intention to return to the website. In addition, trust was hypothesised to positively
influence consumers’ intentions to return, thereby suggesting that trust mediates the
relationship between visual aesthetics and intention. The second aim of this thesis was
therefore to explore these relationships, in an effort to highlight the effect that visual
aesthetics has on the online environment.
The survey results revealed that visual aesthetics does have a positive effect on consumers’
intention to revisit, as affective appeal was found to have an effect on intention. In addition,
visual aesthetics was found to have an effect on trust, as both functional appeal and personal
appeal had a significant effect on the trusting beliefs. However, no significant relationships
were found between trust in the website and intention to revisit. Still, these findings confirm
the impact visual aesthetics can have on vital aspects of the online environment, thereby
highlighting it as an important focus area for managers and decision makers. | nb_NO |
