Web-surfers’ conative reactions to the website’s dominant hue: mental imagery’s role

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of web-surfers’ conative reactions to websites’ dominant hue by taking into account mental imagery’s role. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model considering mental imagery as a mediator of web-surfers conative reactions to websites’ dominant hue was tested. It also supposes that mental imagery promoted by websites’ dominant hue is moderated by web-surfers’ involvement towards the product sold. To validate this model, an online experiment was conducted with a sample of 400 web-surfers. Findings Results reflect the importance of “vividness/clarity” and “valence” dimensions of mental imagery. In fact, hues congruent with the website’s content seem to be more able to generate vivid and positive mental images which affect positively web-surfers’ conative reactions. However, this relationship is reversed when web-surfers are strongly involved with the product sold. Research limitations/implications Although this study focused on a particular product category, the obtained results can help the research community to understand better conative reactions of web-surfers to websites’ dominant hue through the consideration of mental imagery’s role. Practical implications Findings can help managers to better the performance of their commercial websites through the choice of the adequate background hue. Originality/value This study highlights the importance of mental imagery prompted by dominant website’s hue taking into account its congruence degree with the website’s content. It provides empirical evidence about its mediating role.