THE EFFECTS OF AESTHETICS AND SELF-PRESENTATION ON THE INTENTION OF PURCHASING A BRAND-NEW SMARTPHONE

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of self-presentation and aesthetics on the intention of purchasing a brand-new smartphone. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of self-presentation and aesthetics on the intention of purchasing a brand-new smartphone. For this purpose, this study suggested a research model which account for the intention of purchasing a smartphone in a more comprehensible way than traditional information and communication technology (ICT) frameworks. The constructs were selected by the design requirements based on three-level processing theory: aesthetics in visceral level, perceived usefulness and playfulness in behavioral level, and self-presentation in reflective level. The hypotheses were developed from self-presentation theory and the theories of human computer interface (HCI) such as the attractiveness stereotype. For the validation, the research model was empirically tested for Apple's 'iPhone5' which was not launched by the analysis of the data from surveying Korean university students via partial least square (PLS) approach. In result, all the hypotheses were shown to be statistically supported.