An eye-tracking study of the Elaboration Likelihood Model in online shopping

Abstract

This study uses eye-tracking to explore the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) in online shopping. The results show that the peripheral cue did not have moderating effect on purchase intention, but had moderating effect on eye movement. Regarding purchase intention, the high elaboration had higher purchase intention than the low elaboration with a positive peripheral cue, but there was no difference in purchase intention between the high and low elaboration with a negative peripheral cue. Regarding eye movement, with a positive peripheral cue, the high elaboration group was observed to have longer fixation duration than the low elaboration group in two areas of interest (AOIs); however, with a negative peripheral cue, the low elaboration group had longer fixation on the whole page and two AOIs. In addition, the relationship between purchase intention and eye movement of the AOIs is more significant in the high elaboration group when given a negative peripheral cue and in the low elaboration group when given a positive peripheral cue. This study not only examines the postulates of the ELM, but also contributes to a better understanding of the cognitive processes of the ELM. These findings have practical implications for e-sellers to identify characteristics of consumers’ elaboration in eye movement and designing customization and persuasive context for different elaboration groups in e-commerce.