Journal of Retailing 87 (1, 2011) 4658

Aesthetics and the online shopping environment: Understanding consumer responses

Yong Jian Wang a, , Michael S. Minor b,1 , Jie Wei c,2
b

College of Business, Ohio University, Copeland Hall 534, Athens, OH 45701, United States College of Business Administration, The University of Texas-Pan American, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539, United States c NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, 1 Business Link Level 6 BIZ 2 Building, Singapore 117592, Singapore

Abstract As the e-tail industry continues to grow with increasing competition witnessed, the study of how to entice and retain online customers has never been as important as at present. Our hierarchical model examines how the two dimensions of web aesthetics, aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal, inuence online consumers psychological reactions, including perceived service quality, satisfaction, and arousal, and how these psychological changes, in turn, inuence online consumers conative tendencies. The results indicate: (1) consumers cognitive, affective, and conative outcomes can be signicantly evoked by aesthetic stimuli; (2) the two dimensions of web aesthetics exhibit dissimilar patterns of inuences; and (3) purchase task signicantly moderates consumers responses in terms of magnitude and direction. The study provides practical guidelines for properly manipulating the two dimensions of web aesthetics based on consumers motivational orientations. 2010 New York University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: e-tail; Web aesthetics; Satisfaction; Online service quality; Online consumer behavior; Environmental psychology

Introduction As part of the e-tail strategy, the issue of e-store design has emerged as a major issue in online retailing. As Grewal and Levy (2007) pointed out, the impact of web design on online consumer behavior is a potential area in retailing research due to the lack of in-depth investigation. Currently, many e-tailers adopted advanced web technologies, such as customized solutions and computer-aided analytical tools, to improve online service in order to win the ultimate competition. However, from a marketing perspective, offering all the functional attributes may not be enough for the creation of a consumer-oriented online shopping environment. Past research in the e-tail eld has recognized the importance of attractive web design in enhancing shoppers online experience (Ganesh et al. 2010; Wolnbarger and Gilly 2003). Noticeably, recent ndings revealed that many web surfers are motivated to conduct online shopping activities

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 740 597 1987; fax: +1 740 597 2150. E-mail addresses: wangy@ohio.edu (Y.J. Wang), msminor@hotmail.com (M.S. Minor), jwei@nus.edu.sg (J. Wei). 1 Tel.: +1 956 316 7135; fax: +1 956 381 2867. 2 Tel.: +65 6516 4418; fax: +65 6777 1296.

because of the stimulation effect of interesting websites (Ganesh et al. 2010). Given the fact that the website is the primary interface for an e-tailer during consumers service encounter, consumers may not be interested in continuing their online navigation if they dislike the interface, although this e-tailer can actually offer benets such as cheaper merchandise, analytical assistance, and faster delivery. If we realize the degree to which shoppers care about the shopping environment and how the store atmospherics can signicantly inuence purchase decisions (e.g., Bitner 1992; Donovan et al. 1994; Spies, Hesse, and Loesch 1997), we believe that how to create an aesthetic website that can let consumers enjoy their online shopping environment is a critical research question in retailing. In this study, we focus on such an aesthetic approach to investigating e-tail website design and consumer responses. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of English Language, aesthetics is a conception of what is artistically valid or beautiful. The concept of aesthetics is also referred to as the philosophy of beauty in the literature of arts (Dickie 1997). In an online context, web aesthetics may represent how different elements and attributes are combined to yield an impression of beauty. There are at least three reasons for the investigation of consumer responses to web aesthetics. First, previous marketing

0022-4359/$ see front matter 2010 New York University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2010.09.002

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Organism Affective: Response

research has recognized the fundamental trend of consumers online consumption style. The web is not merely used for utilitarian purposes, such as looking for information and cheaper merchandise; it is increasingly becoming a place for recreational and entertaining experiences that can fulll consumers hedonic needs (Childers et al. 2001; Ganesh et al. 2010; Hartman et al. 2006). Thus, an artistically beautiful website that pleases eyes may be considered superior to other less-appealing sites. Investigation of web aesthetics will contribute to a deeper inquiry into the hedonic needs of online consumers. Second, a parsimonious measure of overall atmospherics has not been well discussed, although previous studies suggested a signicant inuence of overall atmospherics on consumers shopping behavior (e.g., Donovan et al. 1994; Eroglu, Machleit, and Davis 2001; Hui, Dube, and Chebat 1997; Puccinelli et al. 2009). Since atmospheric stimuli consist of a variety of elements, a study of consumer responses to web aesthetics should examine whether and how different web elements, attributes, and tools, in combination, impact consumers psychological and behavioral reactions. Going beyond the investigation of the functionality of individual atmospheric stimulus, web aesthetics offers a holistic picture on the online shopping environment. Third, intellectual knowledge on web aesthetics has been limited to information system users, lacking application to consumers. Previous research on humancomputer interaction has generated substantial ndings on the dimensionality, consistency, and delity of web aesthetics (e.g., Park, Choi, and Kim 2004; Schenkman and Jonsson 2000; Tractinsky 2004; Tractinsky et al. 2006). But the signicance of web aesthetics to online consumers and the role of web aesthetics in consumers purchase/repurchase intentions, loyalty behavior, and service switching behavior remain unclear. Thus, research efforts on consumer responses to web aesthetics seem essential. The purpose of the study is to investigate online consumers cognitive, affective, and conative responses to web aesthetics, taking into consideration consumers motivational orientations. After the introduction, the study focuses on the development of a research framework with key research hypotheses. The study continues with research methodology and analysis of results. On the basis of the results, discussion of ndings, research limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided. Research framework and hypotheses Previous research posited a bi-dimensional character of web aesthetics. Schenkman and Jonsson (2000) revealed that visual aesthetics of websites has two dimensions, aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal. Aesthetic formality refers to the order, legibility, and simplicity of a website, while aesthetic appeal refers to the overall impressiveness of a website, which is closely tied to the hedonic quality of the website. Consistent with the ndings of Schenkman and Jonsson (2000), Lavie and Tractinsky (2004) found two similar dimensions of web aesthetics. These two dimensions were respectively named classical aesthetics and expressive aesthetics. Classical aesthetics refers to the organization, clearness, and symmetricity of a web-

Stimulus

Conative:

Perceived Web Aesthetics: Aesthetic Formality Aesthetic Appeal Purchase Task

Satisfaction Purchase Task

Purchase

Arousal

Consultation

Cognitive:

Search on Other Websites

Online Service Quality

Re-visit

Fig. 1. Research framework of consumer responses to web aesthetics.

site, and is akin to the aesthetic formality dimension, while expressive aesthetics refers to the creativeness, fascination, and originality of a website, and corresponds to the aesthetic appeal dimension. The ndings indicate that one dimension of web aesthetics is related to the utilitarian, economic, and practical properties of design, whereas the other dimension is reected by the hedonic, attractive, and recreational attributes of design. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework (Mehrabian and Russell 1974), this study proposes a research framework to examine online consumers hierarchical responses to web aesthetics. Taking into consideration the moderating role of purchase task, this study attempts to examine how the two dimensions of web aesthetics inuence online consumers affective changes (satisfaction and arousal) and cognitive reaction (perceived online service quality); and further, how these psychological changes, in turn, inuence online consumers conative inclinations, including purchase, consultation, search, and re-visit. The research framework is presented in Fig. 1. Since consumer satisfaction is demonstrated by positive emotions (pleasure) during a disconrmation of expectations (Dawson, Bloch, and Ridgway 1990; Spreng, MacKenzie, and Olshavsky 1996), we turn to the appraisal theory of emotions to explain the effects of aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal on satisfaction under task-oriented and task-free circumstances. According to appraisal theory of emotions (Frijda 1994), positive emotions can be a result of the match between environmental stimuli and the goal of an individual. A mismatch may result in negative emotions. For example, a dark environment can evoke positive emotions when an individual wants to sleep and negative emotions when he or she wants to read. The theory also contends that in other conditions in which an individual does not possess a goal, positive emotions are a result of the hedonic property of environmental stimuli, which are intrinsically preferred by human beings.

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The aesthetic formality dimension contains the patterns in which the details of information are presented in the online shopping environment. The structure of information is related to the distribution of attribute levels across the products listed (Lurie 2004). The organization, legibility, and clearness of the taskrelevant content determine the readability of the websites (Hall and Hanna 2004), and are directly relevant to the achievement of the online shopping goals (Eroglu et al. 2001). Since consumers with online purchase tasks have to exploit online information about products and services to complete the purchase task in a timely manner, a well-organized, legible, and easy-to-follow web environment facilitates consumers information processing and goal-attainment. In light of the appraisal theory of emotions, a match between high aesthetic formality and the purchase task results in consumer satisfaction. Congruent with the argument, Szymanski and Hise (2000) found that online consumers with a purchase task are more satised with a website if the website is more organized. On the other hand, when online consumers browse an e-tail website without any purchase task, the presence of an organized, legible, and easy-to-follow website may also lead to consumers positive emotions because the preference for order and certainty can be attributed to intrinsic human needs (Maslow 1970). Recent empirical studies on the online environment also support a positive effect of aesthetic formality on the satisfaction by revealing that perceived complexity of a website has a negative impact on pleasure (e.g., Huang 2003; Vilnai-Yavetz and Rafaeli 2006). Thus, whether online consumers pursue purchase tasks or not, a positive effect of a websites aesthetic formality on online consumers satisfaction can be expected. In view of the appraisal theory of emotions, higher aesthetic appeal of a website, the hedonic property of the website, may result in higher pleasure for those who browse the website with no purchase task, because art and aesthetic advancement can be linked to intrinsic human preference (Maslow 1970). In Lindgaard and Dudeks (2003) study, satisfaction of online viewers comes from highly appealing websites, regardless of whether the websites are useful to them. By recruiting participants without a concrete online task, Van der Heijden (2003) also found that online visual attractiveness, which is dened as the degree to which a person believes that a website is aesthetically appealing to the eyes, is positively associated with users enjoyment. However, in the study of store atmosphere, Kaltcheva and Weitz (2006) suggested that atmospheric stimuli that impede the shopping goal evoke negative emotions. In Kaltcheva and Weitzs (2006) study, a stores appealing atmospherics, such as saturated color or music, decrease the pleasure of shoppers engaged in completing their shopping tasks, though these appealing elements increase the pleasure of recreational shoppers. In view of the appraisal theory of emotions, the negative emotions of shoppers result from the mismatch of the stimuli and their shopping goal, because the appealing atmospherics are irrelevant to the shopping task and distract information processing and decision making. Previous ndings lead us to expect that taskoriented consumers may feel unpleasant because the appealing atmospherics require a higher degree of effort to complete the shopping tasks, while task-free consumers may feel pleasant

because their experience is enriched by the highly appealing atmospherics. H1a. Regardless of purchase tasks are pursued or not, aesthetic formality of websites increases satisfaction. H1b. When purchase tasks are pursued (vs. not pursued), aesthetic appeal of websites decreases (vs. increases) satisfaction. Berlynes (1960) behaviorism paradigm has been used to describe the appreciators arousal in response to a visual work of art. An increase in arousal results from the visual stimuli that provoke temporary conict in the memory. To quantitatively explain arousal, Mehrabian and Russell (1974) posited that the amount of arousal in an environment is positively related to the information rate received by an individual, and the information rate is higher when the object presented is novel, surprising, or complex. Since higher complexity indicates lower aesthetic formality of a website and higher novelty reects higher aesthetic appeal, higher arousal tends to be generated in response to an etail website with lower aesthetic formality and higher aesthetic appeal. H2a. Regardless of whether purchase tasks are pursued or not, aesthetic formality of websites decreases arousal. H2b. Regardless of whether purchase tasks are pursued or not, aesthetic appeal of websites increases arousal. A large number of empirical studies in marketing overwhelmingly supported a positive relationship between positive emotion and purchase in both store and online environments (e.g., Donovan et al. 1994; Menon and Kahn 2002; Sherman, Mathur, and Smith 1997; Spies et al. 1997). Remarkably, the positive emotions elicited by atmospheric stimuli may lead to unplanned purchase by consumers who do not pursue any purchase task at the time of service encounter (Beatty and Ferrell 1998). Therefore, we expect that, whether consumers pursue purchase tasks or not, satisfaction with web aesthetics will have a positive impact on the propensity to purchase. In both store and online environments, emotional changes have been found to inuence consumers actions other than purchase. These actions include communicating and interacting with other consumers, browsing related sites and product categories, and participating in promotion activities (Menon and Kahn 2002; Ridgway, Dawson, and Bloch 1989). Perceptual control theory (Hershberger 1989) helps to explain how consumer satisfaction with an environment inuences their conative tendencies under different motivational orientations. The explanation of goal-directed volitional behavior may describe the conative change of consumers who pursue purchase tasks during the encounter with environmental stimuli (e.g., web aesthetics). Perceptual control theory posits that, when an individual starts pursuing a goal, inuential environmental disturbances may provide negative feedback, which subsequently produces a new round of actions to better adapt to the environment. Overall, negative feedback from the environment leads an individual to adjust his or her volitional behavior at times. Thus, if the environment does not provide any negative feedback,

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consumers with purchase tasks will continue their purchase tasks until the goal is achieved. Consumers will take alternative actions that counterbalance the environmental stimuli only if negative feedback is provided. The explanation of volitional behavior implies that consumers who pursue purchase tasks tend to explore for alternatives or additional information only if negative emotions are evoked based on the negative feedback from the website. Therefore, when task-oriented online consumers feel dissatised with the shopping environment, they will be likely to consult customer service or search on other websites. When there is no purchase task in mind, consumers conative reactions to web aesthetics can be characterized as elicited output described by perceptual control theory (Hershberger 1989). In this circumstance, online consumers positive emotions evoked by the aesthetic stimuli may initiate fun- and variety-seeking behavior, such as search on the web. Also, positive emotions may lead to a higher tendency to interact with customer service. This is consistent with previous ndings that the positive emotions elicited by atmospheric stimuli increases further exploration and interaction when recreational consumers encounter a novel or hedonic environment (e.g., Menon and Kahn 2002; Ridgway et al. 1989). H3a. When purchase tasks are pursued, satisfaction with web aesthetics increases the propensity to purchase, and decreases the propensities to consult customer service and/or search on other websites. H3b. When purchase tasks are not pursued, satisfaction with web aesthetics increases the propensities to purchase, consult customer service and/or search on other websites. Previous marketing studies showed that consumers purchase tendency is not necessarily high when they are aroused. A number of studies found that the effect of arousal on purchase is positive (e.g., Baker, Levy, and Grewal 1992; Donovan and Rossiter 1982; Sherman et al. 1997), but some others supported an opposite direction of the effect (e.g., Menon and Kahn 2002; Milliman 1982). Kaltcheva and Weitz (2006) suggested that purchase task moderates the arousal-behavior relationship. They found that higher arousal decreases purchase intentions of task-oriented shoppers, but increases purchase intentions of recreational shoppers. An aroused state can be demonstrated as mental excitement, which activates muscular activities and accelerates bodily movements (Mehrabian and Russell 1974). Thus, higher arousal will generally make individuals more active. But it is noteworthy that high arousal is closely interrelated with the feelings of anxiety and stress during critical decision making (Mehrabian and Russell 1974). High anxiety and stress during information processing and decision making can lead to alternative-seeking behavior, rather than focusing on deliberation and decision making (Pham 1996; Sanbonmatsu and Kardes 1988). As a result, high arousal may lead to the suspension of the central task. Sanbonmatsu and Kardes (1988) found that highly aroused individuals in these situations tend to look for peripheral cues rather than to concentrate on central information

processing. Mehrabian and Russell (1974) also reported that higher arousal weakens concentration. In their experiments, high arousal elicited by environmental stimuli signicantly decreased the participants desire to work or to solve problems. Thus, we expect that, when arousal increases, online consumers who pursue no purchase task will have a higher tendency to search and buy because of bodily activation, while those who need to complete their purchase tasks will experience difculty in continuing the central purchase tasks because of the need for additional information. H4a. When purchase tasks are pursued, arousal by web aesthetics decreases the propensity to purchase, and increases the propensities to consult customer service and/or search on other websites. H4b. When purchase tasks are pursued, arousal by web aesthetics increases the propensities to purchase, consult customer service, and/or search on other websites. Web aesthetics has been considered an important element of online service quality, and found to correlate with other elements, such as ease of use and perceived security (Yoo and Donthu 2001). In information systems research, Lavie and Tractinsky (2004) found that both of the two dimensions of web aesthetics are positively associated with perceived website usability, the quality of websites perceived by users. The nding implies that aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal may both have positive impacts on perceived online service quality. Further, previous research highlighted the impact of perceived service quality on consumers patronage (repeated re-visit) of specic stores (e.g., Pan and Zinkhan 2006; Sirohi, McLaughlin, and Wittink 1998; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1996). In addition, Baker et al. (2002) and Grewal et al. (2003) showed that consumers evaluations of the retail atmosphere is crucial in determining their re-visit intentions, even after they visit the store for recreational purposes. We extend the paradigm to the web and propose: H5a. Aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal of websites both increase perceived online service quality. H5b. Perceived online service quality based on web aesthetics increases the propensity to re-visit a website. Involvement theory contends that consumers with a purchase task tend to have higher involvement with utilitarian information of products and services because of personal relevance (Zaichkowsky 1985). On the other hand, when consumers encounter a shopping environment without a purchase task, their involvement is more hedonically oriented (Laurent and Kapferer 1985). Higher involvement increases interest in the involved elds and a greater effort to acquire information (Celsi and Olson 1988). More importantly, consumers motivational orientations determine their visual attention patterns. According to visual search theory (Theeuwes 1992), visual selection during task involvement is goal-driven, in which individuals attend to and process utilitarian information to achieve the goals, whereas visual selection without a task is stimulus-driven, with attention and information processing focusing on the hedonic proper-

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ties in the surroundings. Aesthetic formality helps to determine whether product and service information can be effectively and efciently used to facilitate the purchase tasks, and thus, may have a stronger effect on the cognitive, affective, and conative responses when consumers pursue purchase tasks. On the other hand, aesthetic appeal, often demonstrated by decorative and hedonic features through colors, graphics, and images, helps to establish the hedonic quality of a website, and thus, may have a stronger effect on the cognitive, affective, and conative responses when consumers are task-free. Accordingly, we propose: H6. When purchase tasks are pursued (vs. not pursued), aesthetic formality has a stronger (vs. weaker) inuence on consumers cognitive, affective, and conative responses than does aesthetic appeal. Research methodology Measures This study involves nine latent variables as indicated in the research framework. On the basis of previous ndings on the dimensionality of web aesthetics (e.g., Lavie and Tractinsky 2004; Schenkman and Jonsson 2000), aesthetic formality is measured by the organization, order, and legibility of a website, and aesthetic appeal is measured by the fascination, creativeness, and impressiveness of a website as perceived by consumers. Sevenpoint semantic differential scales were used. In a pilot study based on a convenient sample of 140 consumers, we conducted conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the dimensionality of the two aesthetic dimensions. The result yielded a two-factor model with good model t (GFI = 0.90) and factor loadings above 0.70. Satisfaction is measured by ve items that describe consumers immediate feelings about a website. Five pairs of opposite adjectives are used: satised versus dissatised, pleased versus displeased, contented versus frustrated, delighted versus terrible, and pleasant versus unpleasant. These ve items are based on existing transaction-specic measures of customer satisfaction (e.g., Eroglu and Machleit 1990; Spreng et al. 1996). Arousal is measured by ve pairs of adjective states: aroused versus unaroused, wide-awake versus sleepy, excited versus calm, stimulated versus relaxed, and frenzied versus sluggish. The ve items are selected from existing measures of phasic arousal (e.g., Donovan et al. 1994; Mehrabian and Russell 1974; Menon and Kahn 2002). Satisfaction and arousal measures are assessed by seven-point semantic differential scales. Perceived online service quality is measured by six items selected from Yang, Jun, and Petersons (2004) online service quality construct. The measure of online service quality consists of six items: reliability, responsiveness, competence, ease of use, security, and product portfolio. The perceived online service quality measure is assessed by seven-point Likert-type scales with higher values indicating more positive responses. This study used self-reported inclination to engage in a behavior to measure the four conative responses. Using behavioral

propensity to measure conation has been widely adopted by previous marketing research (e.g., Dabholkar, Shepherd, and Thorpe 2000; Zeithaml et al. 1996). In this study, each of the behavioral variables is measured by three items. One of the items is assessed by a seven-point Likert-type scale and the other two are based on seven-point semantic differential scales. Quasi-experimental procedures A 2 2 factorial design was employed in the quasiexperiment. Four e-tail websites, online furniture stores A, B, C, and D, were created. The four websites offered identical products as well as customer services. The four e-tail stores were designed into high formality/high appeal (online store A), low formality/high appeal (online store B), high formality/low appeal (online store C), and low formality/low appeal (online store D), respectively. The web design utilized previous ndings on aesthetic attributes (e.g., Lavie and Tractinsky 2004; Schenkman and Jonsson 2000). Aesthetic formality was presented by organized and systematic layout of items, legible font type and font size, and clear text/background color combination, whereas aesthetic appeal was presented by using larger pictures of the listed items, setting images into constant motion or blinking, and adding decorative graphics. The use of movement to manipulate aesthetic appeal followed practical guidelines in successfully creating appeal in a two-dimensional interface, implied by real movement theory (Metallinos 1996). We used four simulated e-tail websites in a quasi-experiment for two purposes: (1) to obtain normal distribution of the values for perceived aesthetic formality and perceived aesthetic appeal and (2) to mitigate the impact of other intervening variables, such as the price of the products, that threaten the internal validity of the dependent relationships. The moderating role of purchase task was manipulated by recruiting two groups of participants, one group with purchase task and the other group with no purchase task. For the group with no purchase task, participants were simply asked to browse the e-tail website. For the group with purchase task, participants were asked to select a particular piece of furniture (a three-seat upholstered sofa with wood frame, priced below $1,700) on the e-tail website, before exposed to the questionnaire. This method of motivational manipulation has been widely used in quasiexperiments in marketing research (e.g., Celsi and Olson 1988; MacKenzie and Spreng 1992). Participants In order to ensure a random sample of real consumers, we recruited participants via a mall-intercept method suggested by Bush and Hair (1985). Trained instructors randomly intercepted shoppers in a shopping mall, and interested shoppers were invited to the experiment. A total of 400 participants were recruited. 200 were in the group with purchase task and 200 were in the group with no purchase task. Each of the four simulated e-tail websites was viewed by 50 participants in each group. We used reverse-coding to screen off lip service responses. In the

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questionnaire, the three semantic differential scales (aesthetic formality, aesthetic appeal, satisfaction) were reverse-coded every other row. The reported values of the reverse-coded items were converted back and compared with those of the regular items. Cases showing fundamentally inconsistent patterns (more than 50% items with opposite directions) were dropped. This left 258 valid cases remained in the sample, 133 with purchase task and 125 without purchase task. The demographic description of the remaining participants is reported in Appendix A. The demographic characteristics of the sample reect a pattern similar to that of the internet users in the United States in terms of age, sex, and household income (Department of Commerce 2004). Statistical analysis Our data were processed by LISREL 8.54 in tracing the hypothesized structural relations. The evaluation of the measurement model was rst conducted to estimate the relationships between the nine latent constructs and their indicators, followed by the evaluation of the hypothesized structure model examining the relationships between the latent constructs. In the evaluation of the measurement model, the nine constructs were subjected to validity and reliability tests. To ensure the validity of measures, the study began with construct validity of each measure using conrmatory factor analysis (CFA), and then discriminant validity between the measures. Construct validity was assessed upon three criteria: model t, factor loadings of measurement items, and average variance extracted (R2 ). Compared to Hu and Bentlers (1999) 0.90 threshold for Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), the constructs demonstrated acceptable model t, respectively. The factor loadings of all items in the nine constructs are reasonably high (all above 0.50) with signicant t values (Anderson and Gerbing 1988). R2 values of the nine constructs all exceed the suggested threshold of 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker 1981). Following Anderson and Gerbings (1988) method for testing discriminant validity, the constructs were paired up and subjected to two models of conrmatory factor analysis. The rst model allows the covariance between the two constructs to be unconstrained, and the second model constrains the covariance between the two constructs. The 2 values of the constrained and unconstrained models are compared. We found that discriminant validity exists between all the paired constructs since the 2 difference is signicant for all the comparisons ( 2 = 3.84, d.f. = 1, p = 0.05). The reliability analysis of the constructs was conducted by calculating the Cronbach for each construct. The Cronbach values for the nine constructs far exceed the recommended critical point of 0.70 (Nunnally 1978), indicating good internal-consistency reliability of the constructs. The results of validity and reliability tests are reported in Table 1. Results In our study, four experimental e-tail websites were created to manipulate the two aesthetic dimensions in the experiments.

Table 1 Construct validity and reliability.a Construct Aesthetic formality Aesthetic appeal Satisfaction Arousal Online service quality Purchase Consultation Search Re-visit Cronbach 0.95/0.95 0.95/0.92 0.95/0.93 0.92/0.91 0.91/0.92 0.91/0.91 0.91/0.94 0.92/0.91 0.96/0.93 R2 0.89/0.88 0.77/0.80 0.81/0.83 0.70/0.72 0.73/0.79 0.79/0.79 0.77/0.84 0.80/0.79 0.92/0.81 GFIb N/A N/A 0.88/0.91 0.93/0.91 0.96/0.94 N/A N/A N/A N/A

a The values are reported separately based on the group with purchase task and the group without purchase task. b N/A: GFI value cannot be estimated due to 0 of freedom.

Manipulation checks were conducted. Based on summated values, we found that the participants who used websites A and C reported higher perceived aesthetic formality than those who used websites B and D (M = 5.75 vs. 2.87, F (1, 256) = 119.52, p < 0.01). Meanwhile, participants who used websites A and B reported higher perceived aesthetic appeal than those who used websites C and D (M = 6.10 vs. 3.73, F (1, 256) = 135.39, p < 0.01). To compare consumers cognitive, affective, and conative responses as a result of the aesthetic effects, the means of the seven endogenous variables are provided in Fig. 2. The direct and indirect paths in the hypothesized model using the sample with purchase tasks are described in Fig. 3. On the basis of the combined results, when online consumers pursue their purchase tasks, perceived aesthetic formality shows stronger impacts on consumers cognitive, affective, and conative responses than does perceived aesthetic appeal. Thus, all the hypotheses relevant to task-oriented consumers are supported except that the satisfactionconsultation path in H3a and the arousal-search path in H4a are not statistically signicant. The results of the direct and indirect paths in the hypothesized model for task-free consumers are reported in Fig. 4. Indicated by pair comparisons of the direct and indirect path coefcients, for online consumers without a purchase task, perceived aesthetic appeal has stronger effects on consumers cognitive, affective, and conative responses than does perceived aesthetic formality. Therefore, all the hypotheses relevant to task-free consumers are supported. Discussion Our ndings help to illustrate the effects of the two dimensions of web aesthetics on the cognitive, affective, and conative responses of online consumers, taking into consideration consumers motivational orientations. The ndings yield new insights affecting a number of research topics in e-tail, such as esatisfaction, information search, online patronage behavior, and so on. Several key notes may be highlighted for researchers and practitioners.

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Fig. 2. Comparison of mean scores under aesthetic manipulations. FML, aesthetic formality; APL, aesthetic appeal; SAT, satisfaction; ARO, arousal; SVQ, online service quality; PUR, purchase; CON, consultation; SCH, search; REV, re-visit.

Most of all, web aesthetics cannot be simply understood as the nicer, the better. It is a bi-dimensional concept and the stimulating effects of the two aesthetic dimensions are intricate. Our ndings subtly describe the dissimilar patterns that the two dimensions of web aesthetics display in the process of online shopping. The dissimilarity includes not merely the magnitude differences of their effects. It is noteworthy to mention that opposite directions of the effects of aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal have been revealed. Our ndings discover an interesting phenomenon that is against researchers and practitioners conventional understanding of web aestheticsalthough perceived aesthetic formality has a positive inuence on satisfaction, perceived aesthetic appeal has a negative inuence on satisfaction when consumers pursue purchase tasks. If we resort to the consumer reaction mechanism in which aesthetic formality facilitates shopping tasks but aesthetic appeal interferes with the task completion, we can clearly depict

how consumers mind is affected by the bi-dimensional aesthetic stimuli. Speaking of the virtual shopping environment, marketing research found that e-satisfaction is relevant to website design (Evanschitzky et al. 2004; Szymanski and Hise 2000). However, how do website design attributes matter in terms of consumer satisfaction remained a myth. Our ndings can solve the puzzle for researchers and depict the function of visual design attributes in consumer satisfaction. The ndings indicate that the application of high formality combined with high appeal as aesthetic attributes is not always ideal for e-tail web design aiming to achieve consumer satisfaction. Web designers and web planners should be aware that, although a highly formalistic and highly appealing website may provide the utmost level of satisfaction for task-free online browsers, online consumers with purchase tasks do not prefer such aesthetic attributes for task-centered online shopping.

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0.42* (4.81)

PUR
-0.34* (-3.85) -0.09 (-0.73)

0.83* (10.14) -0.13* (-2.28) -0.61* (-7.28)

SAT 5 items

3 items

FML 3 items

CON
0.36* (5.51) -0.50* (-5.26) 0.15 (1.64)

ARO
0.57* (6.95)

3 items

APL 3 items

0.81* (11.82) 0.38* (8.32)

5 items

SCH 3 items

SVQ 6 items Model Fit Indices: 2 =711.23, d.f.=513, p=0.00, GFI=0.76, AGFI=0.72, RMSEA=0.05, CFI=0.98, NFI=0.96
0.56* (7.04) -0.25* (-4.38) 0.86* (14.01)

REV 3 items

Indirect Paths:

PUR

FML

-0.27* (-3.54) 0.23* (3.56) -0.50* (-6.21)

CON

APL

0.15* (2.70) 0.70* (10.87)

SCH

* p<0.05, t values in the parentheses

0.33* (7.97)

REV

FML=Aesthetic Formality; APL=Aesthetic Appeal; SAT=Satisfaction; ARO=Arousal; SVQ=Online Service Quality; PUR=Purchase; CON=Consultation; SCH=Search; REV=Re-visit.
Fig. 3. Hypothesized model for consumers with purchase task. FML, aesthetic formality; APL, aesthetic appeal; SAT, satisfaction; ARO, arousal; SVQ, online service quality; PUR, purchase; CON, consultation; SCH, search; REV, re-visit.

There are also other remarkable dissimilar patterns of effects found. For instance, aesthetic formality has a negative inuence on arousal while aesthetic appeal has a positive inuence on arousal, due to information rate. All these various dissimilar patterns exhibited by the two aesthetic dimensions can illustrate web aesthetics as a potential evil angel, attractive, lovely, but harmful when you do not understand its hidden nature. Our ndings further suggest e-tail web designers and web planners to fully realize that, although both higher aesthetic formality and higher aesthetic appeal can present more beautiful perceptions of the online environment, the impacts of the two aesthetic dimensions are far from being equally positive. Moreover, to stay away from web design catastrophes, web design strategies should take into account online consumers motivational orientations. Our ndings demonstrate to e-tail web designers and web planners that, high level of aesthetic formality must be provided for consumers whose utilitarian

tasks are dependent on such cues. On the other hand, when consumers encounter a service environment without any immediate shopping goal, high aesthetic appeal must be utilized as the central factor in determining consumers evaluations and emotions. For marketing researchers, the combination of the results reveals that the moderation effect of motivational orientation on consumers psychological and behavioral outcomes is more complex than a linear effect as previously understood. When consumers are task-free, their behavioral tendencies are largely stimulated by environmental stimuli, and when consumers engage in completing certain tasks, their behavior is goal-directed and volitional. The ndings on the moderation effect of motivational orientation help to explain some of the controversial ndings in the literature, for example, the directions of the arousalpurchase relationship (e.g., Donovan and Rossiter 1982; Menon and Kahn 2002; Milliman 1982; Sherman et al. 1997).

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Y.J. Wang et al. / Journal of Retailing 87 (1, 2011) 4658

0.63* (7.90) 0.26* (5.73) 0.84* (11.93) -0.43* (-6.42)

PUR
0.34* (4.45) 0.50* (7.13)

SAT 5 items

3 items

FML 3 items

CON
0.44* (6.01) 0.40* (4.67)

ARO
0.95* (9.42)

3 items

APL 3 items

0.34* (6.39) 0.76* (10.70)

5 items

0.50* (5.49)

SCH 3 items

SVQ 6 items
0.81* (10.46)

REV 3 items

Model Fit Indices: 2 =620.34, d.f.=513, p=0.00, GFI=0.77, AGFI=0.74, RMSEA=0.04, CFI=0.99, NFI=0.97 Indirect Paths:
0.02 (0.31) 0.85* (9.79)

PUR

FML

-0.07 (-1.28) 0.87* (10.14) -0.11 (-1.86)

CON

APL

0.81* (9.33) 0.27* (5.80)

SCH

* p<0.05, t values in the parentheses

0.62* (8.44)

REV

FML=Aesthetic Formality; APL=Aesthetic Appeal; SAT=Satisfaction; ARO=Arousal; SVQ=Online Service Quality; PUR=Purchase; CON=Consultation; SCH=Search; REV=Re-visit.
Fig. 4. Hypothesized model for consumers without purchase task. FML, aesthetic formality; APL, aesthetic appeal; SAT, satisfaction; ARO, arousal; SVQ, online service quality; PUR, purchase; CON, consultation; SCH, search; REV, re-visit.

Table 2 Behavioral consequences of aesthetic manipulations. Manipulation of aesthetic dimensions Possible behavioral consequences Task-oriented consumers High formality/high appeal May stop processing product information and seek additional information; more likely to re-visit at a later time (even if purchase is not made) More likely to discontinue the purchase task immediately and look for help, or switch to another website; lower chance of re-visit More likely to continue focusing on the purchase task until it is completed, without hesitation, additional consultation, or search; higher chance of re-visit More likely to discontinue the purchase task to seek more information in all possible ways, including checking other websites; less likely to visit again Task-free consumers More likely to make impulsive purchase; more likely to browse other websites; more likely to re-visit at a later time More likely to explore the website in detail and browse other websites; may make impulsive purchase; may re-visit at a later time More likely to leave soon; lower chance of re-visit

Low formality/high appeal

High formality/low appeal

Low formality/low appeal

More likely to leave immediately and not return

Y.J. Wang et al. / Journal of Retailing 87 (1, 2011) 4658

55

In respect to the ultimate inuence of web aesthetics, online consumers likely behavioral consequences from the four types of aesthetic manipulations are summarized in Table 2. In consequence, how aesthetics is applied and manipulated on an e-tail website depends on the consideration of consumers psychological reactions as well as their motivational orientations. E-tailors can manipulate web aesthetics to achieve most favorable outcomes. For example, more transaction-based sites with the aim of mitigating customer hesitation and promoting immediate sales should consider an e-tail website that features high aesthetic formality and high aesthetic appeal for task-free online consumers, while an e-tail website featuring high aesthetic formality and low aesthetic appeal may be best to target regular online shoppers with prioritized purchase tasks. Websites which are more directed to relationship-building through repetitive visits and click rates should feature high aesthetic formality and high aesthetic appeal for both task-oriented and task-free online consumers. Consumer-oriented e-tailers should dynamically utilize the two aesthetic dimensions and strategically implement them through interface design customization. Certainly, the value of aesthetic design customization of e-tail websites has been highlighted (Mathwick, Wagner, and Unni 2010), and our ndings further provide the methods in how to customize web aesthetics with the objective of maximizing e-tailers customer equity. Overall, the contribution of this study to retailing include: (1) it made clear how consumers respond to aesthetics stepwise; (2) it illustrated the complex effects of the aesthetic stimuli; (3) it linked environmental stimuli with motivational orientations in understanding consumer preferences; and (4) it provided strategies in personalizing web aesthetics to reach optimal outcomes for the e-tailers. Akin to those demonstrated in the e-tail environment, aesthetic stimuli in other physical settings may also show a similar pattern of inuences on individuals psychological and behavioral responses. Therefore, in a broader sense, the ndings suggest that aesthetic appearance should match the intended tasks in a given physical environment. This is of particular importance for professional designers, architects, and engineers in maximizing the effectiveness of their design outcomes. For example, appealing features demonstrated via lights, odors, music, and decorations should be applied in areas where people are not engaged in work-related tasks, but are not recommended for areas where work-related tasks are performed. Limitations and future research opportunities The research model is subject to modications or improvements in various ways. The interaction effect of the two dimensions of web aesthetics has not been reviewed in the literature nor examined in the hypothesized model. The interaction of perceived aesthetic formality and perceived aesthetic appeal may have a signicant impact on online consumers satisfaction, arousal, and perceived online service quality. Future research should include the interaction effect in the structural model so that a more accurate illustration of the effects of web aesthetics will be presented.

Marketing research often follows a cognition affect conation route to examine the hierarchy of effects of marketing messages. In the present study, the sequential relationship of cognition and affect has not been scrutinized. This study considered affect and cognition two components of the organism stage in the S-O-R framework and assumed that consumers cognitive and affective responses are induced by web aesthetics during online service encounter. In marketing research, it has been argued that consumers perceived service quality will inuence their satisfaction in the subsequent stage, or vice versa, based on different service evaluation models (Brady et al. 2005). Therefore, future research may examine the sequential order of perceived service quality and satisfaction to see if perceived service quality is a mediator between aesthetic stimuli and satisfaction under certain situations. The ndings of this study indicate that a website may simultaneously evoke positive and negative affective responses of an individual. For example, when consumers pursue purchase tasks, aesthetic formality positively inuences satisfaction while aesthetic appeal negatively inuences satisfaction. Under this simultaneous and contradictory emotional condition, consumers are said to be in ambivalence. Although the present study renders some implications in the understanding of ambivalence in response to environmental stimuli, future research may seek thorough answers to the question. This study has only focused on visual web aesthetics. However, a growing number of e-tail websites are equipped with multi-media. A large number of websites offer background music as well as various instructional sounds and button tones. The wide application of audio stimuli raises a research question: how can consumers aesthetic experience through both visual and aural channels inuence their behavior? Do visual and audio stimuli display the same pattern in terms of their psychological effects? The study of the combination of visual and audio aesthetic stimuli requires a higher level of elaboration because of the complexity of aesthetic stimuli. Further, a physical store environment may have ambient, design, and social factors and all these factors create dynamic multi-sensory stimuli (Baker 1986; Baker et al. 1992). Thus, the effects of broader sources of aesthetic stimuli in a physical environment on consumers cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses can be extremely intricate. Certainly, this will provide challenging opportunities for future research in the area of servicescape. Last but not least, we only used one type of goods, furniture, in the experimental websites. Previous studies in the e-tail area have found that online consumers focuses and concerns during online shopping may differ on the basis of product type (e.g., search/experience/credence goods) (Bhatnagar and Ghose 2004; Hsieh, Chiu, and Chiang 2005; Weathers, Sharma, and Wood 2007). Given that furniture is a type of hedonic, durable, experience-based, and specialty product, future research should utilize other types of merchandise to explore more nuanced effects of web aesthetics based on consumers information processing patterns.

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Y.J. Wang et al. / Journal of Retailing 87 (1, 2011) 4658

Total (n = 258) N Age Below 20 2029 3039 4049 5059 60 and above Undisclosed Sex Male Female Undisclosed Marital status Single Married Widowed Divorced or separated Undisclosed Ethnicity Caucasian heritage Hispanic/Latino heritage African heritage Asian heritage Native American heritage Other heritage Undisclosed Education High school Undergraduate Graduate Undisclosed Annual household income Below 10,000 10,00039,999 40,00099,999 100,000149,999 150,000499,000 500,000 and above Undisclosed Time spent online per week <1 h 12 h 25 h 510 h 1020 h More than 20 h Undisclosed Frequency of online shopping Rarely Several times a year Several times a month Several times a week At least once a day Undisclosed 5 112 52 54 21 4 10 101 154 3 120 85 24 10 19 176 30 21 22 2 1 6 47 170 29 12 14 39 121 33 20 7 24 6 17 44 91 57 29 14 50 139 51 9 4 5 % 1.9 43.4 20.2 20.9 8.1 1.6 3.9 39.1 59.7 1.2 46.5 32.9 9.3 3.9 7.4 68.2 11.6 8.1 8.5 0.8 0.4 2.3 18.2 65.9 11.2 4.7 5.4 15.1 46.9 12.8 7.7 2.7 9.4 2.3 6.6 17.1 35.3 22.1 11.2 5.4 19.4 53.9 19.8 3.5 1.6 1.9 N 3 45 28 35 13 1 8 54 76 3 47 56 15 4 11 89 13 13 16 0 0 2 20 94 10 9 4 19 71 13 7 3 16 3 7 20 59 23 17 4 29 71 23 4 2 4

Purchasetaskpursued(n = 133) % 2.2 33.8 21.1 26.3 9.8 0.7 6.0 40.6 57.1 2.3 35.3 42.1 11.3 3.0 8.3 66.9 9.8 9.8 12.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 15.0 70.7 7.5 6.8 3.0 14.2 53.3 9.8 5.3 2.3 12.0 2.3 5.3 15.0 44.4 17.3 12.8 3.0 21.8 53.4 17.3 3.0 1.5 3.0

No purchase task pursued (n = 125) N 2 67 24 19 8 3 2 47 78 0 73 29 9 6 8 87 17 8 6 2 1 4 27 76 19 3 10 20 50 20 13 4 8 3 10 24 32 34 12 10 21 68 28 5 2 1 % 1.6 53.6 19.2 15.2 6.4 2.4 1.6 37.6 62.4 0.0 58.4 23.2 7.2 4.8 6.4 69.6 13.6 6.4 4.8 1.6 0.8 3.2 21.6 60.8 15.2 2.4 8.0 16.0 40.0 16.0 10.4 3.2 6.4 2.4 8.0 19.2 25.6 27.2 9.6 8.0 16.8 54.4 22.4 4.0 1.6 0.8

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