Title: Designing consumer interfaces for experiential tasks: an empirical investigation
Abstract: AbstractIn the early adoption phase of business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce, the tasks that proved most conducive to online consumer interaction typically were goal-directed, being clear in sequence and structure. A key challenge in ecommerce is the ability to design interfaces that support experiential tasks in addition to goal-directed tasks. Most of the ecommerce research on interface design, however, has focused on goal-directed tasks and has not addressed experiential tasks. Based on the literature from interface metaphors and mental models, this paper explores the use of tangible attributes derived from the physical business domain as a technique for designing an interface that effectively supports experiential tasks. A laboratory experiment was designed and conducted to test the impact of two types of interfaces and business domain familiarity when completing an experiential task. Because consumers need to retain and recall information to evaluate products/services or to make brand associations, retention/recall of information was measured on both the day of the treatment and after a 2-day lag. Results revealed that the interface based upon the business domain metaphor stimulated higher levels of retention and recall of information and thus provided the desired support for experiential tasks. Further, users with weaker domain familiarity showed the greatest improvement in retention and recall, particularly after a 2-day lag, when using the interface with the business domain metaphor design.Keywords: Experiential tasksinterface designmetaphorelectronic commercedomain familiaritymental modelsconsumer behaviorhuman–computer interactioninformation presentation AcknowledgementsWe thank the Associate Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and insightful comments during the development of this manuscript.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJohn D WellsAbout the authorsJohn D. Wells is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems at Washington State University. He received his B.B.A. degree in Management from the University of Oklahoma and M.S./Ph.D. degrees in Management Information Systems from the Texas A&M University. He has worked as a systems engineer for Electronic Data Systems and the Oklahoma State Senate. His active research areas are Electronic Commerce, IT Strategy, and Interface Design. His work has appeared in several academic journals and numerous international conferences.William L FuerstWilliam L. Fuerst is the Dean of the School of Business at the University of Kansas. His research and teaching interests include the analysis and use of emerging information technologies; the design, implementation, and use of computer-based systems; and the strategic impact of information technologies. In addition to his research and teaching activities, Dr. Fuerst has held several administrative positions. He has numerous publications in leading journals in the information systems area, and has prior full-time work experience as an information systems consultant with a major public consulting firm.Jonathan W PalmerJonathan W. Palmer is an Associate Professor in the School of Business at the College of William & Mary. Professor Palmer's research interests include the strategic use of information technology, electronic commerce, and virtual organizations. His work has appeared in such journals as Information Systems Research, Communications of the ACM, Journal of AIS, The Information Society, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, and International Journal of Human–Computer Studies as well as in a number of international conferences. Dr. Palmer teaches M.B.A., undergraduate and executive education courses in strategic information systems and electronic commerce. He earned his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from Claremont Graduate University.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 41
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