Analysing the Role of Interactivity in User Experience

An experimental investigation into the role of interaction in user experience (UX) with a controlled manipulation of interactivity features (e.g. avatars, interactive video) in a university information website is reported. The more interactive version had better affect and hedonic ratings, even though its perceived usability was worse. Analysis of qualitative data showed users were attracted to the interactive features, although they complained about poor usability. The results of the experiments are discussed to consider the role of interactivity in user experience and the differences between users’ quantitative judgements of UX and their comments on interactive features which reveal different perspectives

Can we Take User Responses at Face Value? Exploring Users’ “Self-stated” and “Derived” Importance of Utilitarian versus Hedonic Software Features

Empirical studies in the product development literature have shown that the users’ self-reported importance of product attributes differs from the derived importance of product attributes obtained through the attributes’ correlation with an external criterion such as user satisfaction. However, no study has examined this phenomenon in the context of software products. This investigation is important because the present-day software requirement-prioritization techniques are based on capturing users’ self-reported importance of new software product features. As such, I develop a method in the study to capture the derived user importance of new features. The findings show that the implicitly derived importance of software attributes differs from the importance rankings assigned to them using requirement prioritization techniques. Further, I found that the implicitly derived user importance to identify the determinants of user satisfaction more accurately than the prioritization techniques based on self-stated user importance. I discuss the implications of this promising new approach for practice and future research in requirements prioritization

How Do Users Choose Between Technologies? Insights from a User Value Perspective

TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) is concerned with why workers reject or accept technological tools that have been provided to support the work they are doing. TAM assumes the worker does not get a choice in the tools they use. Their only choice is to use or not use the tool. However, in today’s changing work environment employees often use different technologies to accomplish the same work. In this context, we examine how users choose the tools they use at the workplace. A correct understanding of this will not only enable organizations deploying these technologies to influence the choice of tools they want their employees to use at the workplace but will also help providers of these technological tools to design them for maximum adoption among users

IS THE TIME RIPE FOR BRANDING OF SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

Branding of products provides many benefits to the users as well as providers of products. However, unlike other products not much research and industry efforts have been expended into building strong software brands. In this study we identify the reasons for this state of affairs using a multi-disciplinary review of literature as well as anecdotal and empirical evidences. The results of the study show that software industry and products have so far followed a trajectory similar to that of other industries and products in its evolutionary path but with a time lag. In line with this observation we expect increasing relevance of abstract benefits to the users of software products, such as hedonic and social benefits. Also, the significant impacts of these abstracts benefits in building successful software brands as measured by brand loyalty indicates that the time is now ripe for branding of software products

Theory-Based Affordances of Utilitarian, Hedonic and Dual-Purposed Technologies: A Literature Review

The key to an information system’s (IS) success is its value experienced by the user. A promising approach to enhance user value is to design for the users’ experiential desires. For example, fulfilled experiential desires enhance the users’ satisfaction and loyalty. Despite these benefits, few design principles exist for developing IS according to the users’ experiential desires. Therefore, the aim of this literature review is to aggregate the current state of knowledge concerning the different theoretical perspectives on utilitarian, hedonic and dual-purposed IS. We build a framework that illustrates the relationship between different theoretical perspectives on IS affordances (i.e., motivational, cognitive, affective, and social) and different technology types (i.e., utilitarian, hedonic, dual-purposed). The presented framework offers a starting point for the development of theory-based design principles for experiential affordances of IS. We conclude with a summary of opportunities for future research to extend our knowledge of experientially fulfilling IS

How Acceptable Is This? How User Experience Factors Can Broaden our Understanding of the Acceptance of Privacy Trade-Offs

Privacy is a timely topic that is increasingly scrutinized in the public eye. In spite of privacy and security breaches, people still frequently compromise their privacy in exchange for certain benefits of a technology or a service. This study builds on both technology acceptance (TA) and user experience (UX) research in order to explore and build hypotheses regarding additional dimensions that might play a role in the acceptability of privacy tradeoffs that are not currently accounted for in TA models. Using four scenarios describing situations with potential privacy trade-offs, we conducted a focus group study with 8 groups of participants (N = 32). Our results suggest that factors influencing privacy trade-offs go beyond existing TA factors alone. A technology's perceived usefulness plays an important role, as well as dimensions related to context, previous experiences, perceived autonomy and the feeling of control over the data being shared

TEENS AND THE HANG OUT LIFESTYLE: WHAT DRIVES TEENS SATISFACTION AND ATTITUDINAL LOYALTY?

Introduction: Satisfying teens consumer group is critical to retain a larger market share in the future. Creating teens’ experience and value seems to be fundamental for enhancing both satisfaction and loyalty in cafes industry. Background Problem: This study examines the impact of customers’ experiences and the hedonic quality on teenagers’ satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. Novelty: This study provides a new and comprehensive model of customer experience by adding hedonic value as a subjective experience to evaluate satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. Research Method: Questionnaires were used to collect the data. Purposive sampling was chosen to select the respondents. Two hundred Indonesian teens participated in this study. In order to achieve the aim of this study, SPSS 23 and Partial Least Square (PLS) 3 were used. Seven out of ten hypotheses proposed in the study were supported. Findings: Three dimensions of customer experience (staff interaction, customer interaction and physical environment) have a significant effect on customers’ satisfaction, but only one dimension (physical environment) has an effect on customers’ attitudinal loyalty. An additional finding of this research is that all the hedonic quality dimensions (except hedonic emotional) have an effect on customers’ satisfaction. Lastly, customers’ satisfaction has a significant effect toward customers’ attitudinal loyalty. Conclusion: The findings suggested that a cafe’s manager or owner should pay attention to their customers’ experiences and their hedonic quality, in order to create customer satisfaction and enhance their attitudinal loyalty toward the cafe

Influencia de las motivaciones Hedónicas en el valor percibido de las web 2.0 de alojamientos turísticos

Para las empresas del sector turismo que operan en los nuevos entornos virtuales 2.0, conocer los factores que contribuyen al incremento del valor percibido de sus sitios web es un elemento clave para incrementar su competitividad. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la influencia de las motivaciones hedónicas de aventura, autoridad, búsqueda de ofertas y detección de tendencias en el valor hedónico de los sitios Web 2.0 que ofertan alojamiento turístico. El contraste de hipótesis se ha realizado a partir de una muestra de 372 individuos con experiencia como compradores de productos turísticos, utilizando modelos de ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados del estudio empírico muestran una influencia directa y significativa de las motivaciones de aventura, autoridad y detección de tendencias en el valor hedónico de las web 2.0 de alojamientos turísticos y ofrecen un conjunto de implicaciones relevantes para los gestores de las empresas turísticas