Onscreen characters their design and influence on consumer trust

Purpose Previous research has focused on how trustworthiness can be evoked by the physical design of onscreen characters OSCs within the ecommerce interface. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not the OSCs representation, along with user differences, influence, how likeable, appropriate and trustworthy they are. Designmethodologyapproach A web site was created for a simulated online bookseller and 183 people from various countries participated in the experiments. OSC representations were tested under four conditions in the main experiment facial appearance humanlike vs cartoonlike and gender male vs female. Findings The results suggest that the humanlike characters are more likeable, appropriate and trustworthy in general terms. However, when perceived capabilities of OSCs are measured, a mismatch can occur between expectations and capabilities of the humanlike OSCs. In fact, cartoonlike OSCs, especially female, had more positive effects on the web site interface. Research limitationsimplications This study was limited to simulations of onscreen scenarios. Future work, with access to the huge database required, could investigate the effects of truly interactive OSCs. Larger national subsamples would permit generalisations about crosscultural differences. Practical implications For etailers and web designers, this study suggests critical design variables and responsemoderating variables that mediate the effects of OSCs in eretailing. It helps to understand customers' interaction needs in establishing and maintaining parasocial relationships, potentially increasing purchase intentions and persuasion. Originalityvalue The efficacy of different representations of OSCs to retail situations has been little investigated previously this study measured how likeable, appropriate and trustworthy different OSC design formats are to different customer types.