Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
How Internet users perceive human images as one element of website design? Controlled experiment was conducted using a questionnaire, interviews, and eye-tracking - Human images with facial features would induce a user to perceive the website as more appealing, having warmth or social presence, and as more trustworthy
User reactions to technology Conventional cognition-driven paradigm - Usability-based design characteristics - Website design elements related to their impact on user trust or satisfaction - Behavioral or cognitive focus Hedonic-driven user reaction - Focus on affective consumer behavior as elicited from emotive and multisensory elements - Focus on affect and emotion in the examination of information technology (Kim et al.2007; Sun and Zhang 2006). - Hedonic (non-instrumental) human needs, emotion, affect, and experience.
New theoretical perspectives Move beyond the technology acceptance model (TAM) into the realm of emotive reactions - Hedonic elements of a website contribute to the user’s experience (Childers et al. 2001; Cyr et al. 2006; Hessanein and Head 2007; Hessenzahl 2002; van der Heijden 2003,2004) - Visual design of the website contribute to emotional appeal for users (Garrett 2003) - Relationship between aesthetic beauty of a website and trust on the website (Karvonen 2000) - Impact of social cues and “warmth” of websites impart a feeling of social presence related to the user’s experience of the website (Gefen and Staub 2003; Hassanein and Head 2007; Yoo and Alavi 2001)
Visual Rhetoric Theory - Rhetoric Theory : Interpretive theory that frames a message as an interested party’s attempt to influence an audience (Scott 1994, p.252) - Complex visual communication: Images, texts afford meaning to the viewer - Visual rhetoric theory: visual view point, focus, graphics, and layout are related in a specific way to the message itself (Scott 1994, p.225) - Computer example: image, text add fresh, unexpected perspective to viewer, expands viewer’s experience of the item. - Communication is figurative and evocative rather than literal
Social presence theory - Social presence : The extent to which a medium allows users to experience others as being psychologically present (Gefen and Straub 2003, p.11) Social presence embedded in communication theory (Short et al 1976) Communication is effective if the communication medium has the appropriate social presence required for the level of interpersonal involvement required for a task - Psychological connection with the user, who perceives the website as warm, personal, sociable, thus creating a feeling of human contact (Yoo and Alavi 2001)
Research model
Hypothesis 1 Image appeal will be highest in the high-human condition, when compared to the medium-human and no-human conditions - Images in AD - Visual design - Images of people Emotional responses Emotional appeal Human images with facial features
Hypothesis 2 Perceived social presence will be highest in the high-human condition, when compared to the medium-human and no-human conditions. - Text - Pictures - Human figures Social presence Human images with facial features
Hypothesis 3 Trust will be highest in the high-human condition, when compared to the medium-human and no-human conditions - Image design - Aesthetics of website design - Enjoyable user experience - Trust Human face photos & social cues - Attract attention - Affective response - Online trust Human images with facial features
Hypothesis 4 Higher image appeal will result in higher levels of trust - Image design - Aesthetics of website design - Enjoyable user experience - Trust - Attract attention - Affective response - Online trust Human face photos & social cues Human images with facial features Image appeal
Hypothesis 5 Higher perceived social presence will result in higher levels of trust. - Image design - Aesthetics of website design - Enjoyable user experience - Trust Human face photoes & social cues Online trust Human images with facial features Social presence Information rich Reduced ambiguity & risk
Research model