Humanizing websites: Website personality for E-services

Abstract

Unlike physical services, e-services lack human interaction, which calls for them to be designed in a more human-like way. From the conventional marketing perspective, the concept of brand personality is used to explain the human characteristics associated with a brand. Regrettably, existing brand personality dimensions are context-specific and are often developed using physical products and services. This study advances the field of humanizing websites by identifying the set of website characteristics appropriate for e-services, specifically in terms of online banking services. Drawing from the interpersonal-relationship theory, this study further examines the relationship between website personality and how the customer relates to the website in terms of trust, commitment and satisfaction towards their online banking website services. In order to complete this investigation, 397 accounts of usable data have been gathered from online banking customers. A two-steps analysis using PCA and PLS-SEM resulted in the identification of three website personality dimensions that are unique to online banking services, with a varying degree of effect on customer trust, commitment and satisfaction.