Design aesthetics in predominantly-utilitarian versus predominantly-hedonic services: the “what is beautiful is good” and “Ulysses” effects

ABSTRACT

This study is the first that uses quadratic effects to explore when design aesthetics can generate the opposite effect. It complements the “what is beautiful is good” effect by introducing the “Ulysses” effect (newly introduced effect). Mobile banking and mobile gaming are selected as predominantly-utilitarian and predominantly-hedonic services, respectively. Using online questionnaires, data are collected in France. SmartPLS is used. The results show that, in a predominantly-utilitarian service, the relationship between design aesthetics and intention is an inverted U-shaped curve. However, in a predominantly-hedonic service context, the relationship between design aesthetics and intention is rather linear ascending.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ For moderation and quadratic effects, values of 0.005, 0.01, and 0.025 represent realistic thresholds for small, medium, and large effect sizes, respectively (Aguinis et al., 2005; Hair et al., 2017, 2018).