Abstract

More companies, especially the electronic companies, have started to use animated images on their websites to strength the first impression of their products and services. The first objective of this study was to aim at understanding the following gap: understanding the relationship between the animated images and the purchase intention. This will be done considering two mediators: visceral emotion, website credibility. No research focuses on the impact of websites animated images considering serial mediators. The second objective was to investigate the moderating effect of the culture value on the impact of the animated images on Visceral emotion (Pleasure, arousal, dominance). The results indicate that animated images will elicit greater emotional pleasure (arousal) which will induce higher perceived website credibility, thus leading to higher purchase intention than static images on the electronic’s product pages. Emotional dominance does not seem to change when customers see animated images. In fact, people from different countries have similar emotional flow towards animated images on the electronic’s product pages and similar ones following perceived site credibility and purchase intention. The managerial implications of this study suggest
builder could focus their effort on creating animated product images instead of making two versions of images to adjust the tastes of different cultures. In both cases, electronic companies and web builders should be careful in their ethical approach to ensure they do respect individuals' rights and maintain an ethical mindset in their whole vision of their marketing strategy and application.