Investigating Online Consumer Behavior Using Thin Slices of Usability of Web Sites

Studies in psychology have indicated that ‘thin slices,’ very brief exposure to information, have a great deal of predictive validity in judgments and decision-making. We apply this concept of “thin slices” to study the behavior of consumers when surfing online. Our primary objective is to investigate whether consumers’ thin slice judgments of web sites have validity in an online environment. We determine predictive validity of thin slices using measures on the overall usability of a web site and its navigability. We propose to test the hypotheses by conducting an experiment.