Attribute-level interactivity, satisfaction, and loyalty in the online environment

Websites are a composite of multiple attributes, each of which has certain characteristics. One such characteristic is interactivity. This dissertation research focused on the impacts of a website's attribute-level interactivity on users' satisfaction with and loyalty to the website. Although some researchers have addressed interactivity of overall websites, there is little research focusing on interactivity of attributes within a website and the consequences on users' satisfaction with and loyalty to the site.; This dissertation research examined the impacts of website attribute-level interactivity on user satisfaction with and loyalty to the site from different perspectives. First, this research tested the effects of website interactivity on user satisfaction with and loyalty to the website after controlling for other potential influencing variables. Second, a conceptual framework incorporating the mediating roles of telepresence and flow in the website interactivity-satisfaction relationship was proposed and tested. Third, two types of relationships---linear and non-linear---between attribute-level interactivity and users' satisfaction were investigated. In addition to the well-established linear model on the relationship between attribute-level interactivity and users' satisfaction in the literature, this research examined a non-linear model according to Kano's work. Kano categorized different attributes in terms of their impacts on users' satisfaction.; Three studies were designed to test the hypotheses within the context of transactional websites because transactional websites are more critical to business and marketing disciplines. Both secondary and primary data were collected at store and individual customer levels. Moreover, primary data were collected both in an online experiment and through a paper-pencil survey. Regression, ANOVA, Structural Equation Modeling, and Kano method were used test the hypotheses.; Results of this dissertation research show (1) different website attributes influence users' satisfaction with and loyalty to websites differently, (2) the relationship between interactivity of website attributes and satisfaction is dynamic, changing with the users' online shopping experience, and (3) telepresence, flow, and satisfaction play different roles in increasing the two dimensions of website loyalty: revisit and stickiness. Based on these results, this research suggests, from the perspective of website attributes, the strategies improving shoppers' loyalty to a transactional website.