Manuel Martins da Silva, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations
Gordy Pleyers, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations
Summary
This study examines whether the visual complexity of a service firm’s website background shapes consumers’ judgments of service complexity and reliability and, ultimately, their intention to use the service. A within-participant online experiment (N = 103) was conducted across four service categories (medical practice, consultancy, construction, and transport). Website interfaces were manipulated to display higher versus lower background complexity by varying the number of patterns, as well as their irregularity and asymmetry.The results show that a higher (vs. lower) complexity background increases perceived service complexity and decreases perceived service reliability, perceived company reliability, and intention to use the service. Mediation analyses further indicate that the effect of background complexity on intention to use is explained by perceived complexity and reliability. By demonstrating that background design elements can systematically influence evaluations of intangible services, this research extends prior work on crossmodal correspondences beyond sensory judgments to more conceptual inferences about service complexity and reliability. The findings also support processing fluency theory by suggesting that visually simpler environments enhance ease of processing, which in turn strengthens reliability perceptions and intention to use the service. From a managerial perspective, service companies should avoid overly complex website backgrounds, as simpler visual contexts can foster reliability and increase customers’ intention to use, especially in settings where tangible product cues are absent.
Keywords: Website design; Background complexity; Service complexity; Cross-modal correspondences; Processing fluency