Carlos Orús

Facilitating imaginations through online product presentation videos: effects on imagery fluency, product attitude and purchase intention

The use of imagination is a dominant strategy for consumers to form evaluations in the e-commerce environments. Online Product Presentation Videos (OPPVs) are vivid information that can facilitate consumers this task. Following the imagery fluency approach, we analyze the impact of OPPVs on consumers’ quality of product-related thoughts, ease of imagining, and responses toward the product. A series of studies combining experimental- and survey-based procedures shows that the presence and type of OPPV improves consumers’ cognitive responses and facilitates imagination about the product, which becomes a strong determinant of attitude and purchase intention. We also control for the OPPV’s trustworthiness to isolate the effects of the content characteristics of video. Moreover, we consider the moderating role of the consumer’s motivation to process information. The results demonstrate that high and low motivated consumers use their imagination differently. In addition, when OPPVs are featured by the brand, ease of imagining does not relate to purchase intention.

The Impact of Online Product Presentation on Consumers' Perceptions: An Experimental Analysis

The website design and specifically the visual aspects have been revealed as key factors for achieving a successfully e-service website. This research examines the effects of the visual product presentation on online users’ perceptions. We carried out an experiment to analyze the impact of the size, the quality and the movement of the product picture on the perceived usability, satisfaction and purchase intention of users. We also analyzed the moderating role of user experience and product familiarity. The results suggest the importance of visual aspects, emphasizing the quality of the picture as the most salient factor. This study also indicates that users’ satisfaction is influenced to a great extent by these attributes.

Analysing the Key Factors of Web Design: A Heuristic Evaluation

Due to the rapid growth of the electronic commerce and consequently the increase of the competence, a special interest among the specialized literature is arising focusing on the critical factors which could lead to the e-commerce success. In this sense, the web design has been revealed as a critical aspect in order to achieve positive outcomes of the users. Consequently, this research is focused on analyzing the importance of web design for the success of a virtual store. A heuristic evaluation has been developed in order to identify the good and bad design practices of three well-known websites. This method is particularly useful for our study, since the opinions from multidisciplinary experts give us a more complete understanding about what is the most important for the design of the websites. The results of the test, together with a review of the specialized literature, allowed us to offer some managerial implications and recommendations for designers in order to carry out a successful virtual store.

Introducing the discussant role to stimulate debate in the classroom: effects on interactivity, learning outcomes, satisfaction and attitudes

ABSTRACT Debates can help students to acquire cross-curricular competencies and improve their learning. However, their use in higher education is scarce and students’ acceptance is low. Considering the effectiveness of discussants in scientific conferences, this research introduces the discussant role as a teaching tool to revitalise debate in the classroom. We propose and test a model to analyse the effects of this activity on three important aspects of learning (interactivity, learning outcomes and satisfaction). We examine how these variables determine students’ attitudes towards the two roles that can be adopted in the activity (discussant or discussed) and their overall evaluation. We test the model regarding students’ expectations and perceptions in the aftermath of the activity. Results show significant relationships between interactivity, learning and satisfaction. Moreover, the three factors strongly determine attitudes and overall evaluation of the activity. Differences before and after experiencing the activity are also found.

The Impact of Recommendations on the Cross-Channel Shopping Behavior

Consumers can easily combine different channels to search for information and make purchases. Yet, the physical store is the preferred purchase channel. The cross-channel purchase process (i.e., in-store purchase influenced by online research) is the most extended behavior among online users (eMarketer 2014; Forrester Research 2014). The influence of online information on off-line purchases is expected to be especially significant due to the development of mobile technologies (Van Bruggen et al. 2010). In this way, one of the most beneficial innovations that new technologies have incorporated into the consumer’s shopping process is the access to other consumers’ opinions and evaluations anytime and anywhere (Hennig-Thurau et al. 2010). Despite the great body of research analyzing the effects of traditional word of mouth in conventional shopping environments, and of electronic word of mouth (e-wom) in e-commerce, there is a lack of research on how e-wom influences the consumer’s purchase behavior at the physical outlet. This research examines how external recommendations, coming from online users or the company, influence the cross-channel search experience and decision. Specifically, this research analyzes: (1) how online users’ recommendations help the consumer to improve their cross-channel shopping experience and (2) how consumer versus seller recommendations received during the physical interaction affect the initial impression of the product.