Experience effects on interactivity: Functions, processes, and perceptions☆
Introduction
Interactivity is central to Internet marketing communication. However, the concept is still evolving and in need of clarification (Kim and McMillan, 2008, McMillan, 2006). Advances in interactive technology influence marketing management to the extent that interacting with consumers and eventually building relationships with them become easy to perform (Rust and Espinoza, 2006). The growth of interactive media, especially the Internet, inspires an examination of the impact of marketing communication using new media (Klein, 1998). Even though many practitioners and researchers suggest that interactivity is a boon for marketing communication (e.g., Chen et al., 2005, Wu, 2005), some find negative consequences of interactivity (e.g. Bezjian-Avery et al., 1998, Bucy and Chen-Chao, 2007, Sundar and Kim, 2005).
Scholars attempt to conceptualize interactivity in their research. Rafaeli (1988) defines interactivity as an expression of the extent that, in a given series of communication exchanges, any later transmission is related to the degree to which previous exchanges referred to even earlier transmissions. He considers dimensions of interactivity to include conceptual factors of communication (exchange and transmission), a degree of interactivity, and a time factor. While research has worked toward conceptualizing interactivity at least since the 1980s, technologies develop rapidly; thus, computer-mediated interactivity is steadily evolving as well, which means that the concept of interactivity is still contested and needs clarification.
The purpose of this study is to explain multifaceted interactivity as functions, processes, and perceptions by examining its relationships in terms of functional features, actual interactions and perceptions, the moderating role of experience, and the consequences (i.e., attitudes, trust, and purchase intentions), thereby shedding light on interactivity by parsing out the different elements and exploring the importance of a key moderating variable on key consumer outcomes. Understanding interactivity is important to marketing communication researchers and practitioners. The value of this study lies in untangling the relationships between functional, actual, and perceived interactivity in human-to-human and human-to-computer contexts. The interactivity concept also claims that experience plays a significant moderating role, particularly in action/transaction functions within the context of human-to-computer interaction.
Section snippets
Types of interactivity
Research on interactivity has seen numerous attempts to classify the various types. First, a dual approach paradigm to defining interactivity is present in much of the literature. Massey and Levy (1999) identify one dimension as interpersonal interactivity, or the extent to which audiences can have computer-mediated conversations in the “spaces” created for them, and the other dimension as content interactivity in which journalists technologically empower consumers using content. Schultz (2000)
Functions, processes, and perceptions of interactivity
The literature defines and measures interactivity in multiple ways—often in the context of functional features, actions and/or processes, and perceptions of interactivity. Research on interactivity as a function focuses on clarifying manifest features of interactivity in websites. Some studies focus on developing tools for coding interactive features (Bucy, 2004, De Marsico and Levialdi, 2004, Gonzalez and Palacios, 2004, Ha and James, 1998, Jankowski et al., 2005, Massey and Levy, 1999,
Experience as a moderator
An early stream of research emphasizes that experience may be an important individual difference factor in the traditional marketing communication context. According to Fazio and Zanna (1981), attitudes developed through direct experience are more enduring and more resistant than those developed through indirect experience. Direct experiences also lead to greater consistency between attitudes and behaviors (Fazio and Zanna, 1978, Fazio and Zanna, 1981, Smith and Swinyard, 1983).
In the
Consequences of interactivity
Several researchers report that perceived interactivity has positive influences on attitudes toward websites, attitudes toward brands, and purchase intentions (Cho, 2004, Cho and Leckenby, 1999, Lee et al., 2002). Attitude toward a website leads to consequences similar to findings in earlier attitude research, in which attitude toward an ad is a good indicator of the ad's effectiveness (Batra and Ray, 1986, MacKenzie et al., 1986, Petty et al., 1983). Ghose and Dou (1998) find that greater
Hypotheses
Interactive features are multifaceted and each facet performs multiple functions. Possible differences may result from varied ways of operationalizing interactive functions. The primary questions addressed by this study are: What are the relationships among functional, actual, and perceived interactivity in the H-to-H and H-to-C contexts? How does experience moderate those relationships? What are the consequences of interactivity on attitude, trust perception, and purchase intention?
First, the
Design of the experiment
This study reports on U.S. undergraduate students (n = 170) recruited from several different undergraduate courses at a large southeastern university who, with the permission of instructors for the corresponding courses, attended an experimental session in return for extra credit.
The experimental design involves four treatment conditions. Two focus on H-to-H interactivity and employ a 2 (dominant functions: individual/individual, organization/individual) 2 (experience: high, low) design. The
Manipulation checks
Before the main experiment, each of the twenty-six participants responds to an item asking whether any interactive features are present in the manipulated travel websites. Camtasia studio software records their actual interactions to show whether the participants actually click the targeted functional features in each function-dominant site. In the pretest, participants recognize the targeted functional features and click them.
Descriptive statistics
Table 1 provides an overview of descriptive statistics for all key
Discussion
The study presented here provides a framework for examining relationships among interactivity as functional features, actual interaction and perception, the moderating role of experience, and the consequences (i.e., attitude, trust, and purchase intention) within H-to-H and H-to-C types of interactivity.
This study presents distinctions between the two types of interactivity, with different findings for relationships among functional, actual, and perceived interactivity and experience as a
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The authors thank Barry J. Babin from Louisiana Tech University and Adilson Borges from Reims Management School for their invaluable comments and help on this manuscript.