Degree Type

Thesis

Date of Award

2008

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Theses & dissertations (College of Business)

First Advisor

Anthony M. Townsend

Second Advisor

Brian Mennecke

Third Advisor

Laura Smarandescu

Abstract

This study investigated whether differences in user personality---specifically cognitive and affective styles---impact the user's perception of usability for different types of web sites, since perceived usability is an important aspect of persuasiveness of a web site. For this purpose, different measures of cognitive style and affective style were applied and two versions (high cognitive resp. affective appeal) of web sites educating users about a topic were designed. Users were instructed to explore the sites and rate their usability. Support was found that design for better perceived usability was possible based on need for cognition. Implications were discussed and deeper exploration in future research suggested. In addition, in this paper it was explored whether differences in user personalities matter in information assurance by investigating correlations with concerns for information privacy and user password practices. Statistically significant relationships were discovered.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-16597

Publisher

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/

Copyright Owner

Georg Meyer

Language

en

Proquest ID

AAI1453906

OCLC Number

256723414

ISBN

9780549595755

File Format

application/pdf

File Size

65 pages

Download

Share

COinS