Attitudes Towards Product Website Design: A Study of the Effects of Gender

The research of the Internet2 project has resulted in the introduction of new technologies and has set the stage for another round of Internet growth. These technologies will enhance interactivity and allow for the delivery of greater amounts of information through richer communication. With these new options, World Wide Web-based retailers must now rethink the design of their sites, the amount of information to deliver and the degree of media richness to provide. This article sets forth an overview of the evolution of the Internet, presents relevant media richness theory, gives a review of the literature with regard to gender and the Internet and presents an empirical illustration of the effects of gender on attitudes towards website design. The results suggest that, overall, males have more positive attitudes than females with regard to both rich and lean websites. The study details the development of an experimental instrument for measuring user attitudes and discusses the impact of the results.