Persuasive visual design model for website design

Ibrahim, Nurulhuda (2018) Persuasive visual design model for website design. PhD thesis, Murdoch University.

Abstract

This research investigates the possibility of influencing users' motivation with visual persuasion. Visual persuasion is identified as the design triggers that affect users’ first impression, which is seen as the conceptualisation of motivation. While past research studied the effect of web design towards users’ motivation, not many are looking into the persuasive value of the visual design itself. It is foreseen that visual persuasion helps to produce a more persuasive website and consequently, has an impact on web users' first impression of the website. Once motivation is positively influenced, the likelihood for them to stay on a website long enough to influence certain behaviour will be higher. Hence, this research is designed to empirically measure the effects of persuasive visual design on people’s attitude and behavioural intention. The investigation is accomplished by looking at the causal relationship between the variables in the proposed persuasive visual design model. For this purpose, a persuasive model for the destination website is extended. In the persuasive visual design model for website design, the constructs are divided into two factors: 1) the hygiene factor that consists of perceived informativeness and usability as the underlying determinants and 2) the motivation factor that is predicted by perceived credibility, visual aesthetic, engagement and social influence. Meanwhile, users’ satisfaction and behavioural intention are identified as the observed variables.

In the early stage of the research, the measurement constructs were identified and pilot-tested. Two web prototypes (non-persuasive website and persuasive website) were developed for an experiment conducted in an actual online environment. Participants of the age 18 or older were recruited with the expediency of Facebook. Each of them was randomly assigned to evaluate a website and answer the relevant questionnaire. Participants were encouraged to invite their Facebook friends to also participate in the research. This makes the sample group non-representative as it relies heavily on volunteers.

Once the measurement model of the research is verified and validated, the conceptual model was analysed using Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM); amendments to the model were made as necessary. In general, the results show favourable outcomes as it confirms the significance of visual persuasion in affecting the first impressions on web design. The findings offer new insights into the role of visual persuasion in web design with respect to the relationships between predictors (dimensions of hygiene and motivation factors) and observed variables (users’ satisfaction and behavioural intention). From the theoretical perspective, the research contributes to the understanding of the persuasion process in an online environment. Furthermore, the identification of persuasive visual triggers could help web designers create more effective websites.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Engineering and Information Technology
Supervisor(s):	Shiratuddin, Fairuz and Wong, Kevin
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/42354

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