The purpose of this research paper is to review relevant literature on customer trust and purchase intention, and explore these elements in the context of the quality of visuals. The secondary data has been gained through an extensive literature review, whereas the primary data has been collected through a survey.
This study revealed that the visual appeal of websites influences customers’ trust in companies, and that trust also influences their purchase intention.
Abstract
The purpose of this research paper is to review relevant literature on customer trust and purchase intention and explore these elements in the context of the quality of visuals. The secondary data has been gained through an extensive literature review whereas the primary data has been collected through a survey. This study revealed that the visual appeal of websites influences customers’ trust in companies and that trust also influences their purchase intention.
Keywords: trust, purchase intention, visual appeal, brand image, quality of visuals
Introduction
Online shopping is a well-known phenomenon. Compared to shopping in stores, it makes getting new products effortless. Not only does it provide easy price comparison but also the availability of recommendations, reviews and ratings foster the usage of online shopping (Saw & Inthiran, 2022). It is expected that the online shopping environment will continue to grow and therefore offers huge potential for companies (Wu et al., 2013). In recent years, more and more customers own computers and the internet is available nearly everywhere which offers a tremendous customer base (Ganguly et al., 2010; Juwaini et al., 2022). Even more, using different applications and devices for online shopping leads to a wider range of customers. Therefore, companies should adapt their website in such a way that they create the best customer experience possible (Kuo et al., 2021; Sohn et al., 2017).
However, besides the advantages, there are various risks that go along with online shopping. As it is no physical store, trust in an online shop has been a sensitive topic ever since. If online shop providers aim to succeed, they have to find a way to push the level of trust to a maximum (Saw & Inthiran, 2022).
Since there are only little or no switching barriers between online shops from a customer’s point of view, this is even more important (Ou & Sia, 2010). Interestingly, Chan et al. (2021) found that more than three websites have been visited before actually purchasing a flight at an online shop among most of the American travelers. This highlights the importance of a sophisticated web design. Therefore, companies need to put great attention to their online store as it is a highly competitive market (Jongmans et al., 2022).
Another aspect that companies may take into consideration is that websites can be designed to trigger feelings and therefore provoke purchases (Hartono & Holsapple, 2019). Even the color of design elements can have different consequences on purchase decisions as every color and every color combination implies different associations among consumers (Kuo et al., 2021). Moreover, there are difficulties when designing websites for desktop or for smartphone interfaces companies should be aware of. The reduced surface on smartphones and the different handling results in different design approaches (Sohn et al., 2017). Further, the initial impression that customers get from websites is crucial as this has an impact on the engagement (King et al., 2020).
Even though building trust is a task that aligns with a lot of complexity, companies can manage it by considering certain aspects (Li & Yeh, 2010). Various studies have shown that web design influences trust towards online stores (Li & Yeh, 2010; Ou & Sia, 2010; Wu et al., 2013). However, this paper aims to support these existing studies by enriching it with empirical data in the context of consumer trust in online stores with focusing on the visual design. Trust is a highly important element as companies can only benefit from online business if consumers trust them (Saw & Inthiran, 2022). Even more, when trust has been generated, customers also tend to be more loyal towards the brand itself (Jones & Kim, 2010). According to Juwaini et al. (2022) loyalty is one of the most important success factors to keep up with competitors, not only short term but also long term.
The aim of this paper is to prove that web design influences the trust and purchase intentions of customers. Primarily, the objective of this paper is to confirm that trust positively influences the purchase intention of customers and that web design positively influences trust likewise. In this study, when talking about web design, visual elements like pictures, buttons and the layout are taken into consideration. This construct involves buyers and sellers alike and will be reflected throughout this paper. Therefore, this paper will contribute to the existing literature by delivering primary data that adds more reliability to secondary data. The following research question has been developed:
How does the quality of visuals affect consumers’ trust in online shopping?
In order to answer this research question, a survey has been conducted with international targets. Participants from all over the world have been considered regardless of age, gender or nationality. In the end, 501 participants took the survey. Thereby, this paper also fills the research gap mentioned by Jongmans et al. where different demographics should be taken into consideration when analyzing the trust towards websites (Jongmans et al. 2022).
Course: Business Research Methods FOA323 Term: Autumn 2022 Module: Quantitative methods This paper will start with a literature review of existing studies. Then the development of the hypothesis will be described, followed by the research methodology. Next, the obtained data will be analyzed and discussed. Finally, a conclusion will finalize this paper.
Literature review
Online Purchase Intention and Trust
Since the development of e-commerce, online shopping has overtaken email and web browsing as the third most popular activity (Ariffin, Mohan & Goh, 2018). Ariffin, et. al. (2018) described consumers' preparedness to make a purchase intention as their online purchase intention. Online purchase intention is the desire of online shoppers to purchase goods and services over the internet via virtual shopping carts, also it is the willingness of consumers to purchase a good or service through online retailers (Zhang & Liu 2011). Consumer purchase intentions are crucial for predicting consumer behavior because they obviously depend on the influencing elements that make measuring challenging in various situations (Ariffin, Mohan & Goh, 2018). Pan, et. al. (2013) confirmed that shopping environments can influence consumers' purchasing decisions since they benefit from looking for products or services in various retail settings. Also, online shopping behavior is described as a consumer's action that involves using a computer-based interface and involves interacting with a retailer's virtual storefront through the consumer's computer (Pan, et. al. 2013). Therefore, getting the trust of online customers is very significant for online retailers. The foundation of the connection between online retailers and customers is trust. Also, in addition to promoting purchasing behaviors and decisionmaking, trust can reduce consumers' uncertainty about products and influence their attitudes toward making purchases (Nam et. al. 2021). By offering product details and adding convenience features, businesses may gain the trust of their customers (Kouser, et. al. 2018). It has a favorable and significant impact on the intention to make an online purchase since it is founded on trust, which is made up of honesty, credibility, and goodness (Kouser, et. al. 2018). In addition, Kouser, et. Al. (2018) found that reliability, competence, and altruism are all positively correlated with the intention to make an online purchase and these findings show that buyers will have a positive attitude toward online purchasing and the intention to actually utilize it if they perceive websites' products as being more credible and trustworthy. Therefore, we believe that trust influences the purchase intention of a customer.
Design aesthetics and website design
The channel of communication between online vendors and customers is the website. It has been challenging to complete commercial transactions when buyers and sellers cannot see each other or communicate directly. Therefore, the quality of the website design is significant to influence customers' decision to stay and make a purchase from any online store (Ganguly, et. al. 2010). There are many studies about design aesthetics to website design (Lavie & Tractinsky, 2004). For instance, Zettl argued that for delivering the message visual aesthetics should interrelate with website design and applying visual aesthetics should be used correctly. (McKeague, 2010). Design aesthetics play a significant role in how users perceive websites. Wang et. al. (2010) discovered that a customer's contentment is influenced by the website's aesthetic appeal (Jones & Kim, 2010). Also, effective website design attracts customers and captures their attention, making design aesthetics a significant tool for developing trust (Ming & Shao, 2010). The balance, emotional appeal, or aesthetic of a website was described as design aesthetics on online shopping and this aesthetic can be communicated through the use of colors, shapes, language, music, or animation (Ming & Shao, 2010). Moreover, according to Schultz, the perceived utility of a web page is influenced positively by the graphic design elements (colors, photographs, font style and layout) (Cyr, et. al. 2006). Therefore, we assume that consumers are affected positively or negatively by a website's overall image on online shopping.
Course: Business Research Methods FOA323 Term: Autumn 2022 Module: Quantitative methods
Influence of website design features on trust
When a salesperson comes across as approachable, customers are more likely to trust the brand and customers will similarly have more faith in an online business if they find its website to be user-friendly (Sosa & Koufaris, 2005). Thus, it is suggested that if a website is of high quality, online users can find it easier to communicate with it and the company. Online trust means that the user may trust the website in general, the website's transaction system, and the information that is provided (Cyr, 2013). Also, customer loyalty, including online purchase intentions, usage intentions, and readiness to buy from an online seller, are fundamentally based on consumer trust in the website (Cyr, 2013). According to Corbitt et al. (2003, p.203-2015) “Web site quality is important for web sites to gain competitive advantages over other web sites and attract more customers.” Also, most studies show that people are more likely to display loyalty behavior if they are pleased with a website's design (Cyr, 2008). The features of a website's design are very significant because they can influence a consumer's attitude from negative to positive, which increases their propensity to make a purchase (Saw & Inthiran, 2022). There are many studies about the influence of website design features on trust. For instance, according to Cyr et al. (2008, p.47-72) “The SonyStyle Web site was chosen after an extensive search for a well-localized vendor Web site. A design expert rated each Web site on various characteristics, including main and secondary color, interaction, menu position, use of local symbols, ratios of text to graphics, use of multimedia, and visual style.” Trust in the localized SonyStyle website is significantly influenced by the visual design (Cyr, 2008). Moreover, research indicates, website visual appeal is closely connected with trust, which can develop after very brief online exposure (Skulmowski, et. al. 2016). In addition, Sosa and Koufaris (2005) argued that the only factor that has a significant impact on trust is website appeal. It is important to note that it underlines the fact that trust continues to have a strong, positive relationship with professional, appealing, and contemporary visual design (Saw &S Inthiran, 2022). Therefore, our approach is based on building trust through a positive user experience with the visually appealing web design.
Hypothesis development
Theoretical Foundations
Figure 1 depicts our theoretical underpinnings. Our model was created to investigate the impact of visual quality on online shopper trust. Drawing on literary sources, it is suggested that the visual layout of the e-commerce interface may have an impact on how trust is felt between online customers and retailers (Wang and Emurian 2005). Due to the easiness with which merchants might act opportunistically in online exchange environments by placing more visuals on a website, Visual appeal plays a significant role in determining trust when shopping online. A website that is visually appealing is a useful resource for a business. It enhances consumers' online buying experiences and helps shape the company's distinct brand (Jiang et al., 2016; Xu and Schrier, 2019). Yet according to a Cognizant study (Pring, 2014), fewer than 30% of the 300 American and European CEOs surveyed think their business provides "high quality" digital experiences for its clients. Several researchers have investigated the topic of trust, the role of trust. Due to the temporal and spatial distance between customers and sellers in complex technical and social environments, trust can lessen uncertainty or risk regarding the system, user-generated content, product, sellers, or third-party organizations (Friedrich et al., 2019b). More often than not, consumers seek the advice of someone they trust. Additionally, confidence in the online world can save operational costs like browsing, comparison, and screening time as well as additional charges (Liu & Guo, 2017). Last but not least, trust can help to improve information exchange, which in turn influences the likelihood of making a purchase. Consumers must have faith in an unknown vendor and a good or service that they cannot physically see, touch, or use in order to have trust in electronic and mobile commerce. Many earlier Course: Business Research Methods FOA323 Term: Autumn 2022 Module: Quantitative methods studies have shown that customers are more likely to make purchases from a website or seller when they have confidence in them (Kim et al.,2009). They held the opinion that contentment and trust are crucial components of fruitful commercial partnerships in B2C electronic commerce. Lee and Turban(2001) gave the elements affecting consumer trust in online shopping. The findings suggested that consumer trust in online purchasing is significantly positively influenced by merchant honesty. G.Das(2014) also studied the relationship between retailer personality, perceived quality, and buy intention and retailer loyalty. The findings showed that store personality and perceived quality are important predictors of purchase intention.
This study examines how much online customer trust is impacted by the quality of site visuals and how trust affects a customer’s decision to purchase. Thus, we hypothesis the following:
H1: The quality of visuals affect trust on online shopping.
H2: Trust influences the purchase intent of a customer.
To formulate the research question, literature has been reviewed and existing questions have been used to create survey questions (Bruner, G. C., 2019).
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Figure 1 Conceptual model
Research methodology
Research design
Our research questions are based on the hypotheses of visual design & trust affecting the purchase decision of consumers. The Quantitative method has been used as its more reliable due to backing up with statistical data. This method was chosen as for the data to be quantifiable it needs to be collected in an ordered and structured manner. The tool used to conduct the research is Survey. Considering that multiple variables were measured; the survey method was chosen where many questions can be asked. Meanwhile, standardized questions in a survey make measurements more precise by enforcing a uniform scale upon the participants, and thus ensure that similar data can be collected from groups that can consequently be analyzed and interpreted comparatively (Christensen et al., 2010).
Methodological Connection
Based on literature review, questions to be asked impacting purchase decisions based on visual appeal of the website have been identified. The connection between our research question and why this method was appropriate as we know that surveys is best methods when to measure a large population is that we want to measure people’s opinion and behaviors so that the researcher can make decisions and draw conclusions. To measure the reliability and validity of the correlations, survey was conducted.
Process of data collection
Before launching the survey, one pilot test was conducted with students and professors of business research methods course to eliminate duplicate questions and fine tune the survey. The questionnaire was finalized with a set of questions received from professors and 9 groups within the master’s program in International Marketing studying at Mälardalen University. The survey was sent out from 28th September till 17th October 2022. Data collection was carried in the fall semester with around 501 people taking the surveys. It was conducted using sunet artologik platform. Respondents were asked to fill a survey consisting of around 70 questions. Four multiple choice questions from our group (see Appendix 3) with a 7 point scale with anchors ranging from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (7) dedicated to evaluating the correlation between visual appeal and purchase decision were included in the survey.
Course: Business Research Methods FOA323 Term: Autumn 2022 Module: Quantitative methods Participants were requested to take 10 minutes of their time to fill out the survey anonymously, and our group sent the surveys to around 270 participants out of which 103 participants confirmed completing the survey.
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Table 1 Overview of survey data
Analysis
Before analysis the dataset was checked for missing data and outliers. The data was analyzed using statistical software SPSS. Spearman’s two tailed test was conducted to test the hypothesis.
Research limitation
The feedback received was that it was too long, and many respondents left it half way through the survey, but since all the questions were important to consider, the respondents were requested to take it and share the confirmation.
Data analysis
An analytical Software named SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used for quantitative data analysis.
Reliability statistics
Reliability is an essential feature of research quality and measures the extent of consistency of the study’s instrument. Additionally, it describes how a variable or set of variables consistently measures what it is intended to measure. The Cronbach Alpha values are the indicators used to understand the reliability coefficient. As illustrated in the table below the value of the Cronbach for all constructs is greater than 0.60 so we assume the study measures are reliable and internally consistent. As illustrated in the table, the Cronbach of visuals was 0.798, Trust recorded 0.792 Purchase lntent.779.
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Table 2 Reliability statistics
Correlation analysis
Correlation analysis calculates the level of change in one variable due to the change in another variable. All bivariate correlation analyses express the strength of association between two variables in a single value between -1 and +1. This value is called the correlation coefficient.A positive correlation coefficient indicates a positive relationship between the two variables (as values of one variable increase, values of the other variable also increase) while a negative correlation coefficient expresses a negative relationship (as values of one variable increase, values of the other variable decrease).A correlation coefficient of zero indicates that no relationship exists between the variables.
Bryman and Bell (2015) states that when conducting a bivariate analysis, it is concerned with analyzing two variables to see if there is a relationship between them. Spearman’s rho is used to analyze relationships between two ordinal variables where the coefficient correlation will in the majority of cases have a value between 1 and -1 (a perfect relationship).
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Table 3: Correlation Purchase Intent and Visual appeal
The result being presented in this table can be interpreted as follows:
Course: Business Research Methods FOA323 Term: Autumn 2022 Module: Quantitative methods N - No of observations that were correlated.
Sig (2-tailed) - p-value that is interpreted.
Correlation is significant at 0.01 level (2 tailed)
Spearman’s rho is used for ordinal scale data. The p value in the table will help us know whether this correlation that we observed in our sample is actually statistically significant. Since the p value is greater than our alpha value (correlation value) we can conclude that the strong positive correlation observed between purchase intent and visual appeal is statistically significant. There existed significant positive correlation. The estimated spearman’s rho was 0.660** (see appendix 6)
Regression
The linear regression analysis shows that our hypotheses (H1 and H2) are supported (Table 4). The first dataset contained 474 participants, originally it has two variables: there are trust and visual appeal. Trust and visual appeal have a t-value of 29,550 which means that consumers are affected by visual appeals and their trust has been influenced by the visual appeals. The variable is highly statistically significant o=0.05 since the p- value for the variable (0.000) is below 0.05 and ANOVA (Table 5) shows a good fit (F=873.182, p <.001) and a relatively high adjusted R2 value of 0.649 of trust. In Table 1, the moderating effect of trust is only confirmed on the relationship between trust and visual appeal (H1), with ß=.8O5 as the interaction effect of trust and the quality of visuals. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 is supported by the regression (Table 4). Also, the second dataset contained 465 participants. There are two variables which are trust and purchase intention. The regression shows that trust and purchase intention have a t-value of 5,150 (Table 1). ANOVA (Table 6) shows a good fit (F=26.524, p <.001) and a relatively high adjusted R2 value of 0.054 of purchase intention. There is a relationship between trust and purchase intention which is positively since the p-value for the variable (0.000) is below 0.05. In Table 4, the moderating effect of trust is only confirmed on the relationship between trust and purchase intention (H2), with ß=.233 as the interaction effect of trust and purchase intention. Thus, Hypothesis 2 is supported by the test (Table 4).
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Table 4 Dependent variable: Trust (Regression)
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Table 5 ANOVA Trust-Visual Appeal
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Table 6 ANOVA Trust-Purchase Intention
Course: Business Research Methods FOA323 Term: Autumn 2022 Module: Quantitative methods from one variable grouping to another. We did it in SPSS software under the analyze tab choose descriptive statistics and then chose crosstabs. In the next step we added variables to be measured under rows and columns and for the data to be shown as a bar chart we clicked on display clustered bar charts option.
In general, when faced with a risky circumstance, women often display a lower level of trust than men do (Chaudhuri and Gangadharan 2003). According to e- commerce research, women are more likely than males to locate signals to details and let emotions affect their trust. Research shows that around 40% of males and 37% of women globally use the internet. In terms of web site design elements like shapes, colors, and images, it was discovered that women and men have different preferences (Shaouf, et. al. 2016). A detailed understanding of genderspecific assessments and wants relevant to web design is crucial (Tsichla, et. al. 2014). For our survey, the demographic profiles of the participants who attended the "A functional and efficient website positively affects my trust" question are summarized in Table 1. The sample consisted of 263 females and 215 men. 77 out of 263 female participants (29.3%) strongly agreed that their trusts are affected positively by a functional and efficient website. Also, 81 female participants (30.8%) agreed that their trusts are affected positively by a functional and efficient website. 40 female participants (15.2%) are neutral and only 5 female participants (1.9%) do not agree. Besides, 59 out of 215 men participants (27.4%) strongly agreed that their trusts are affected positively by a functional and efficient website. 52 men participants (24.2%) agreed that their trusts are affected positively by a functional and efficient website. 36 men participants (16.7%) are neutral and only 5 men participants (2.3%) do not agree. Therefore, our survey question shows that a female's trust is more affected positively by a functional and efficient website.
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- Julia Petker (Autor:in), 2022, How does web design affect consumers’ trust in online shopping?, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1318807
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