This dissertation studies the antecedents and consequences of the flow
experience in online retailing environments. Flow is the enjoyable and engrossing
experience that people feel when acting with total involvement. A review of previous
studies suggests that applying the notion of flow to understand the online consumer
experience is a promising but underdeveloped field with several conceptual and
methodological issues.
This dissertation attempts to contribute to our understanding of flow in online
shopping in three ways. First, a three-part validity study was carried out using different
approaches to construct validity and involving two sets of two flow measures: the Flow
State Scale (FSS, Jackson and Marsh 1996) and the Internet Flow Scale (IFS). The first
study related flow to behavioral criteria in online shopping. The second conducted a
traditional construct validity study in which we developed and tested a “nomological
network” of relationships between flow measures and other logically-related constructs.
This study also included a Multitrait-Multimethod validity study. The third was a
factorial validity study of the flow construct. These studies provided evidence of
construct validity for flow and suggested that the FSS had advantages over the IFS in
terms of validity.
Second, this dissertation tested a comprehensive model of flow that included the
underlying dimensions of flow, the mediating effects of perceived challenge and skill on
flow, and antecedents and consequences of flow. Consequences of flow include
perceived usefulness, affective responses to the site, and intentions to revisit and
purchase. Overall, results based on data collected by a controlled experiment supported
our model, suggesting that flow is a second-order construct and positively related to
outcome variables.
Thirdly, we studied the effect of Web site complexity on flow. Perceived site
complexity was found to effect flow negatively. Investigating the effects of it on
inducing flow in online shopping may eventually lead us to guidelines for improving the
shopping experience by designing more capable Web sites.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/1501 |
| Date | 17 February 2005 |
| Creators | Guo, Yi |
| Contributors | Poole, Marshall Scott |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 1394019 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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