Influence of aesthetics attributes of brand Web pages on customer brand engagement
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-07-2021-0126 |
| Published date | 11 January 2022 |
| Date | 11 January 2022 |
| Pages | 484-505 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information in society,Information literacy,Library & information services |
| Author | Geeta Marmat |
Influence of aesthetics attributes
of brand Web pages on customer
brand engagement
Geeta Marmat
Faculty of Management Studies, Indukaka Ipcowala Institute of Management,
Charotar University of Science and Technology, Anand, India
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to empiricallyexplore the influence of website aesthetic attributes(classical and
expressive)on customer brand engagement (CBE) intention.
Design/methodology/approach –This research develops a frameworkand a few research hypothesis
based on available literatureon the concept of aesthetics, aesthetic attribute of websites and CBE, as well as
other reliable resources, relevant theories, wherever required and tested it on the data collected from 400
respondents of the Y generation (Gen Y) of India by means of structural equations modelling using SPSS
AMOS 21.
Findings –The findings indicatethat expressive aesthetics of the brand Web pages of the beautyproducts
is positively associated with drawing attention. Expressive aesthetics and classical aesthetics together
explained 16% of the variance in attention. This indicates that aesthetic attributes indeed play a role in
drawing the attention of the customer. However, mere attention is not sufficient to form the behavioural
intention in the customer to engage with that particularbrand unless the customer does get fully absorbed
with aestheticattributes of the brand Web pages.
Research limitations/implications –The outcome of this research is based on the view of only 400
Gen Y individuals from the city of Indore in India. This limits its generalizability across India and ot her
country context. This study makes important contribution to brand website aesthetic and CBE
literature by empirically investigating the concept of brand website aesthetics as important in
interactive marketing approach to initiate CBE intention formation. It further argues that cognitive
engagement is the first and foremost engagement dimension and underscores aesthetic at tributes as
important in forming the customer first perception based on which subsequent CBE beha vioural
intention develops.
Originality/value –This research adds novel insight in the relationship of the brand website aesthetic
attributesand CBE by studying the impact of the aesthetic attribute of brand Web pageson the two cognitive
elements, namely, attention and absorption and further its effect on brand behavioural intention taking as
sample of Gen Yof India.
Keywords Aesthetics attributes, Brand engagement, Brand web pages, Expressive aesthetics,
Classical aesthetics, Engagement intention, Aesthetics attributes
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
With the emerging trend of e-commerce, use of the concept of aesthetics by marketers in
developing and maintaing brand website designhas been increased (Henderson et al.,2003;
Kerfoot et al., 2003;Cai and Xu, 2011). Given its role in attracting attention and facilitating
memory (Becker, 2017) and relationship (Adams, 1977), marketers are aware of its
The author is thankful to the Editor, Associate Auditor and anonymous reviewers of GKMC journal
for their constructive comments to improve the quality of this research paper.
GKMC
72,4/5
484
Received29 July 2021
Revised17 September 2021
Accepted5 December 2021
GlobalKnowledge, Memory and
Communication
Vol.72 No. 4/5, 2023
pp. 484-505
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9342
DOI 10.1108/GKMC-07-2021-0126
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9342.htm
importance in creating customer-brandengagement (Kim and Johnson, 2016;Lee et al.,2018;
Hollebeek and Macky, 2019). Positive customerbrand engagement (CBE) invariably proves
beneficial to brands (Hollebeek,2011) in contributing to companies’profits (Van Doorn et al.,
2010;Adler, 2015). Therefore, finding ways to facilitate customer-brand engagement has
been a research priority(Charters, 2006;Meyers-Levy and Zhu, 2010;Bloch et al.,2003).
Conceptually, CBE can be understood as multidimensional with three dimensions:
cognitive, emotional and behavioural (Brodie et al., 2011;Hollebeek, 2011;Hollebeek et al.,
2014). It captures consumers’interactive responses to any brand related stimuli (Kim et al.,
2016; Hollebeek and Macky,2019), such as brand aesthetics (Ramezani Nia and Shokouhyar,
2020). Extant research identifies the relationship of aesthetic attributes of Web pages on
customer interactive responses (Kusumasondjaja, 2020;Huertas and Marine-Roig, 2016).
Still, there is lack of research to establish the theoretical linkage between brand website
aesthetics attribute and on different dimensions of CBE. Existing research measured the
effects of brand website aesthetics, such as aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal (Wang
et al., 2011), design aesthetics (Chaouali et al.,2020), unity in design (Alsudani and Casey,
2009), on customer aesthetic responses like customer perceivedvalue (Huertas and Marine-
Roig, 2016), customer brand attitudes and behavioural intentions (Colliander and Marder,
2018;Xu and Schrier, 2019;Pengnate et al., 2019). While most studies focussed on aesthetic
Web design, they did not capture two dimensions of website aesthetic attributes that is,
classical and expressive dimension. Moreover, these studies did not clarify its influence on
the specific dimensionof CBE.
Considering aesthetic conceptual complexity, Schenkman and Jönsson (2000) and Lavie
and Tractinsky (2004) simplified and organized the different elements of aesthetic
attributes of the website into two dimensions, classicalaesthetics and expressive aesthetics
(Sonderegger et al.,2014). Classical aesthetic represents simplicity, clarity, orderliness,
cleanness, while expressive aesthetic represents decorating creatively using special effects,
colours, sophisticated or fascinating design or colour combination. Both dimension have
been empirically focused by the researchers and have been studied for their effect on
customer perceived value, perceived usability, perceived credibility of the website,
trustworthiness of brand’s website (Sonderegger et al.,2014; Oyibo et al., 2018) and
behavioural intentions(Hagen, 2021;Bhandari et al.,2019).
Although extensive study has been conductedon two dimensions of aesthetic attributes,
asymmetric results failed to clear the picture as to whether these elements of different
dimensions affect customer’sperceived value, or result in affects, such as attitude formation
and purchase intention. Additionally, it is unclear if the affect is of perceived value or
interpreted notion of the aesthetic attribute. However, a study in the hospitality context
suggests that customers evaluate website design before entering any behavioural intention
(Xu and Schrier, 2019). There is still lack of research on the effect of two dimensions of
aesthetic attribute of brand Web pages on CBE. A gap exists which requires further
investigation to extend understanding of the relationship of the two dimensions, classical
and expressive aestheticsof aesthetic attributes, on CBE.
To address the gaps, this researchdevelops a framework based on available literature on
the concept aesthetics, aesthetic attribute websites and CBE, as well as other reliable
resources, relevant theories, wherever required, to support the argument to establish a
relationship of classicaland expressive aesthetics and CBE behavioural intention.
This paper endeavours to narrow down the existing gap by examining the influence of
aesthetic attributes (classicaland expressive dimensions) of the brand Web pages of beauty
products brands on brand engagementbehavioural intention of the Y generation (Gen Y) of
Customer
brand
engagement
485
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