What Drives The Perceived Credibility Of Mobile Websites: Classical Or Expressive Aesthetics?

Credibility is considered one of the most important Human-Computer Interaction design attributes that are responsible for the success of e-commerce websites. In web design, research has shown that visual aesthetics is one of the strongest determinants of the perceived credibility of websites. However, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding which of the two main dimensions of visual aesthetics (classical aesthetics and expressive aesthetics) is the stronger determinant of perceived credibility. To bridge this gap, we conducted an empirical study of 526 subjects from five continents to investigate which of the two dimensions of visual aesthetics has a stronger influence on perceived credibility using a utilitarian mobile website as a case study. Our results show that classical aesthetics significantly influences perceived credibility more strongly than expressive aesthetics does. The findings generalize across age and gender and different levels of user interface aesthetics. Our findings underscore the need for website designers to pay special attention to classical aesthetics features (e.g., simplicity, clarity, orderliness, cleanness and pleasantness) rather than expressive aesthetics features (complexity, richness, novelty and special effects) when designing utilitarian systems. A classically pleasing website is more likely to be perceived credible than an expressively arousing website.