infonet-economy

The Internet theoretically enables marketers to personalize a Web site to an individual consumer. This article examines optimal Website design from the perspective of personality trait theory and resource-matching theory. The influence of two traits relevant to Internet Web-site processing - sensation seeking and need for cognition - were studied in the context of resource matching and different levels of Web-site complexity. Data were collected at two points of time: personality-trait data and a laboratory experiment using constructed Web sites. Results reveal that (a) subjects prefer Web sites of a medium level of complexity, rather than high or low complexity; (b) high sensation seekers prefer complex visual designs, and low sensation seekers simple visual designs, both in Web sites of medium complexity; and (c) high need-for-cognition subjects evaluated Web sites with high verbal and low visual complexity more favorably.

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