Aesthetics Matter: Driving Credibility, Purchase Intent, and Learning Motivation in Digital Education by Using Aesthetic Experience

In a progressively competitive landscape, particularly in online education and training, it is essential to distinguish oneself to attract learners and, consequently, customers. Research indicates the significance of a website’s credibility in shaping the intention to purchase a service, while other studies demonstrate the effect of a teacher’s credibility on learning motivation. Researchers have demonstrated that a significant role in an individual’s evaluation of believability is contingent upon visual appearance, or “aesthetics.” Other researchers have also demonstrated that individuals’ aesthetic experience impacts how they perceive and evaluate aesthetic. This is why we wanted to find out if an individual would be more predisposed to select a site deemed aesthetically pleasing over one that was not perceived as such, given identical training content. Consequently, we assessed two training websites, one deemed “aesthetic” and the other “non-aesthetic,” randomly assigned to two groups of participants (totalling 82). We also evaluated the aesthetic experience of the participants. The findings of the study indicate a preference for the “aesthetic” site regarding the assessment of site credibility, training credibility, purchase intention, and learning motivation. We also found that having artistic expertise impacted evaluations: While experts were generally more critical, this effect was primarily observed for the non-aesthetic website. The positive impact of aesthetics on perceived credibility, purchase intention, and motivation to learn was consistent regardless of the individual’s level of artistic expertise.

 Jovanovic, J., McLaren, B., Chounta, IA., Viberg, O., Ortega-Arranz, A., Poquet, O. (eds) Computer Supported Education. CSEDU 2024. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 2882. Springer, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-21997-8_3
Lien : https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-21997-8_3