The effect of representational fidelity and product design quality on attitude toward the product and product recognition.

摘要

The recent success of the Apple I-Mac and of the new Volkswagen Beetle has focused more attention on the effect of product design on consumer behavior. Several versions of these product designs are being marketed exclusively on the Internet, the World Wide Web that has the ability to provide consumers with several product representation options. The representations used in the marketing of these products include images generated from both traditional representation formats such as drawings or photos, but also include representations from emerging interactive formats that allow the consumer to manipulate the product representations.;This research examines the effect of both the quality of a product design on consumer behavior, and the effect of the fidelity of a product design representation on consumer behavior. Specific behaviors that are examined are the consumer's attitude toward the product, and the consumer's ability to recognize a product representation that has been previously seen.;This dissertation postulates that the independent variables design quality, representational fidelity, and their interaction (design quality x representational fidelity) influence the dependent variables attitude toward the product and recognition correctness and certainty. Product design quality is defined as the degree to which design elements and design principles are related and unified in a product design. Design quality is operationalized using a scale that incorporates several constructs that are based on the principles of Gestalt psychology. Representational fidelity is defined as the amount of relevant information conveyed by a representation of a product design. Representational fidelity is operationalized in three levels using drawings, photos, and interactive images of stimuli. The attitude toward the product and the ability to recognize a product previously seen (attitude toward the product and recognition correctness and certainty respectively) are operationalized with existing measures drawn from the consumer behavior literature.;The results of the research support the hypothesis that design quality and representational fidelity account for a significant portion of the variance in the attitude toward the product and the recognition correctness and certainty measures. A research program is outlined which will examine both product design quality and other types of media used to present product representations to consumers.