The Effect of Presentation Types and Flow on E-Book Purchase Intention

Abstract

E-book has grown into a revolutionary way of publishing due to the rapid development of mobile technologies. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) revealed that E-book sales were down in 2014. Many designers consider E-book should be produced with dynamic format to increase purchase behavior. This study focuses on individual users’ perceived characteristics of innovation and the flow of e-books with different presentation types as explanatory and predictive variables impacting the purchase behavior of users. The experiment was conducted using 200 student volunteers at a comprehensive university. There are significant differences in the perceived characteristics of innovation, flow and purchase intention for different presentation types of e-book readers. Flow is an important factor influencing the e-book purchase intention and carries the same weight in each group tested. For reading static e-book content on a tablet, users’ perceived observability and flow have positive impacts on their purchase intention. Conversely, users’ perceived complexity has a negative effect on their purchase intention. The research results suggest that designers and publishing companies produce static, not dynamic e-books for use on the tablet to increase E-book sales.