Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing Special Issue: Call for Papers

Psychological and Behavioral Principles Related to Web Design and Conversion

Deadline for Complete Papers: 30 March 2013

The Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing announces the call for papers for a special issue addressing the psychological and behaviors informing website design and increasing conversion of websites. The deadline for submission is March 30, 2013.

Purpose of the Special Issue

Website design and content contribute significantly to conversion both on the website and in subsequent offline visits to retailers (Hauser and Urban, 2009; Hausman and Siekpe, 2009). However, many studies into effective web design (defined as creating conversion or increasing antecedents to conversion such as trust and loyalty) do so from a cognitive perspective (Rosen and Purinton, 2004) or invoke traditional marketing concepts, such as target marketing, that fail to consider the human elements necessary to create successful websites; elements that touch the hearts as well as the minds of consumers.

However, some studies do approach website design from a psychological or sociological perspective based on understanding consumer online behaviors and how to motivate consumers to take action during their online visit. In their meta-analysis, Schibrowsky, Peltier and Nill (2007) find increasing emphasis on consumer online behavior in recent research. Dr. Siepke and I (2009) used Uses and Gratifications theory from psychology to understand how website design elements impact purchase intentions.

The goal of this special issue is to further develop our understanding of effective website design that motivates purchase either online or offline. The special issue approaches this topic from a psychological and behavioral perspective that is especially important given the monumental changes in digital commerce wrought by the advent of social networks that share corporate messages and drive users to a firm’s website.

Examples of appropriate research fitting the aim of this special issue are:

• Psychological antecedents of website conversion
• The role of social elements such as online community in driving website conversion
• The impact of website design elements on driving traffic to the site and/ or increasing conversion
• Crowdsourcing and other user generated content and it’s ability to drive traffic to the website or increase conversion.
• Integration of social media with the website to enhance conversion rates
• The evolution of trust through website design and/ or social networks
• Attitudes and behaviors related to online privacy

Certainly other topic areas fit with the aims of the special issue and any questions as to the suitability of the topic should be addressed to the Guest Editor.

Format and Submission Information

Submitted manuscripts should follow the format as indicated in the author guidelines on the journal website:

www.emeraldinsight.com/jrim.htm.

As a guide, papers should be between 4,000 to 6,000 words. Papers are reviewed by the Special Issue Guest Editor and if it is judged as suitable for this publication, the manuscripts are sent to two referees for double-blind peer review. Submissions should be made to ScholarOne at

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jrim

If you would be interested in reviewing other papers which have been submitted to this issue of the journal please indicate so on Step 4 of the ScholarOne submission process in the ‘Cover Letter’ box and an account will be created for you.

Others interested in reviewing should contact the guest editor.

Submission deadline

The deadline for electronic submission is 30th March, 2013.

Special Issue Guest Editor

For more information, please contact the special issue guest co-editor:

Angela Hausman, PhD at hausman1229@gmail.com

References

John R. Hauser, Glen L. Urban, Guilherme Liberali, and Michael Braun. 2009. Website Morphing. Marketing Science 28, 2 (March 2009), 202-223.

Gary L. Geissler, (2001) "Building customer relationships online: the Web site designers’ perspective", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 Iss: 6, pp.488 – 502

Hausman, A. V. and Siekpe, J. S. (2009). The effect of web interface features on consumer online purchase intentions. Journal of Business Research, 62(1):5-13.

Rosen, D. E. and Purinton, E. (2004). Website design. Journal of Business Research, 57(7):787-794.

John A. Schibrowsky, James W. Peltier, Alexander Nill, (2007) "The state of internet marketing research: A review of the literature and future research directions", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41 Iss: 7/8, pp.722 – 733

---

The Hardware and Software Behind ELMAR Is Paid for with AMA Dues Please Support ELMAR by joining the AMA or renewing your membership