Effectiveness of Social Interactivity in Merchant Websites on Emotional and Behavioral Responses

Abstract

In a context of hyper connectivity, the designers of commercial websites are constantly seeking to generate favorable psychological states among internet users and to re-enchant them. This research aims to study the effect of the interaction between the social dimensions of interactivity on psychological states and the approach behavior of the e-consumer. Experimentation is chosen as the most appropriate method for testing the proposed model. An online experiment was conducted with 662 internet users. A merchant website was designed for the purposes of the study incorporating the interaction forms investigated. The results of this research underline the power of the social dimension of interactivity in the mediated market environments and show that a socially interactive site can generate the user's flow state, as well as a feeling of being physically present in a remote environment. This relation is moderated by the perceived risk.