| This dissertation draws upon theories and prior studies in the fields of marketing/advertising, information systems, online consumer behavior, human-computer interaction, and user interface and Web site design disciplines. It addresses the research question of whether information content, presentation attributes, and system design features contribute to visitors' perceptions of and attitude toward a commercial Web site. Literature has shown that perceived informativeness, entertainment, and irritation are consistent measurement criteria and perceptual antecedents that affect user attitude toward communications messages presented through the traditional media, Web advertising in general, and Web sites. Such attitudes in turn influence behavioral intentions such as intention to revisit and intention to purchase products from the sponsoring company. This dissertation explores these links in a coherent theoretical framework and tests these relationships in three experimental studies. In particular, the research question is broken down into three sets of factors that potentially influence visitor perceptions: information content, presentation attributes, and system design features. Hypotheses are generated to test the relationships between these factors and visitors' perceptual dimensions. Subsequently, these perceptions are tested against visitors' perceived value of the site, attitude toward the site, intention to revisit the site, and intention to purchase products presented through the site.; Findings from this research validate the proposition that consumers value informative messages in an entertaining form in any medium. It validates existing research in traditional media and extends related theories to commercial Web sites. This research finds that product price and quality information have significant influence on perceived informativeness of a Web site. Available product demo pages make product presentation more entertaining, and the use of popup ads and continuous animation increases the level of irritation of the consumer or visitor. Additionally, this research extends the application of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to individual system design features, such as the sitemap or a search engine, and fords the usefulness of these features to be significant predictors of attitude toward a Web site. This dissertation suggests that future exploration in combining systems and user interface design with consumer attitude and behavior is promising in electronic commerce research. |
