Toward E-Commerce Website Evaluation and Use: Qualitative and Quantitative Understandings

Abstract

Users’ affective evaluation of websites upon mere exposure hasn’t been studied extensively despite its essential influence on attitude and use decision. Based on psychological and information systems (IS) literature, this paper investigates three affect-related concepts and their effects: affective cues, perception of positive affective quality (PPAQ), and perception of negative affective quality (PNAQ). We propose a causal model to describe how affective cues of an e-commerce website induce PPAQ and PNAQ, which in turn impact user attitude toward using this website and intention to use it. The model is tested in two studies, face-to-face interviews and an online survey. This paper adds value to the literature by providing both qualitative and quantitative understandings of the antecedents and impacts of exposure-based affective evaluations in hedonic and utilitarian use of e-commerce websites.

Keywords: E-commerce website evaluation, affective cues, perception of positive affective quality (PPAQ), perception of negative affective quality (PNAQ), attitude toward behavior, behavioral intention.