| As marketers spend significantly to enhance the aesthetics and sophistication of consumer experiences, they are increasing the complexity of interactive consumption environments. However, little is known about how consumers react to such complexity, in terms of their evaluations. In this dissertation we examine two specific types of complexity: (1) Structural Complexity is defined as the number of distinct cues at the web site that consumers have to process, and (2) Outcome Complexity is defined as the abstractness of icons and symbols that consumers use to navigate the web site. This dissertation focuses on consumer motivations, to analyze how and why complexity affects consumer reactions at web sites.; We posit that distinct consumer motives (goal directed vs. experiential) will interact with the level (low, moderate, high) and type (structural, outcome) of complexity to determine consumer evaluations of the web site and brand. It is proposed that the congruency between the complexity level and the needs of specific motives will drive the favorable evaluations toward a web site. Experiential consumers who are looking for an engaging experience will find the moderate complexity web site stimulating and challenging, triggering favorable evaluations; while the goal directed consumers who are seeking efficiency will find the low complexity web site ideal for pursuing their goal in a linear manner. In addition, we predict that due to the conceptual nature of the end goal (seeking specific information), individuals in a goal directed motive display higher sensitivity for low outcome complexity. On the other hand, individuals with an experiential motive are stimulus driven, and more focused on the elements of the stimulus that make the process of browsing engaging and stimulating, displaying higher sensitivity for moderate structural complexity. The results of two experiments support these hypotheses. |
