TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF ONLINE VISUAL AESTHETICS: AN INSTANTIATION OF THE COMPOSITION PERSPECTIVE

Phil L. Longstreet

The purpose of this manuscript is, first and foremost, to present new research in the Information Systems realm that will support future research into perceptions of Visual Appeal in an online environment. In furtherance of these goals, the research draws on Composition Theory to articulate a two-essay research agenda. Composition Theory states that through using the formalist perspective, it is possible to objectively evaluate the component pieces of an art-form to gain insight into individuals' perceptions of the visual appeal of art-forms. Drawing upon this theory, the first essay develops a theoretical model for evaluating visual appeal for online spaces and the need for the model is articulated based on a literature review of the Information Systems literature and referent disciplines. A plan for future research to support and expand this theoretical model is also explicated. In the second essay, a measurement instrument for the theoretical model is developed and psychometrically evaluated. The initial findings from this psychometric evaluation show good internal consistency and reliability. The findings also show some initial promise for discriminant and convergent validities, and an examination of the areas of strain within the measurement instrument also shows that no modifications were necessary. A pretest was then conducted to identify website's level of visual appeal and a subset of these where chosen to use with the full data collection. Almost two thousand participants were recruited for the full data collection conducted to provide initial empirical justification for the instrument and model. Overall, the results from this second model show positive reinforcement for support of the internal consistency of the measurement instrument, and also shows support for convergent and discriminant validities. A structured regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses; five of the eight hypotheses were fully supported, one of the hypotheses was partially supported, and the remaining two hypotheses were not supported. A second study was conducted to provide further support for the hypotheses. Analysis of this second study showed that there was only one remaining hypotheses unsupported. The authors conclude with a discussion of the results as they pertain to the research and practitioner communities.

TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF ONLINE VISUAL AESTHETICS: AN INSTANTIATION OF THE COMPOSITION PERSPECTIVE

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