An Examination of the Effect of the Contextual UI Design Quality of Mobile Shopping Applications on the Loyalty of Users to the Applications

Because the typical display space of today’s mobile devices is so small, most mobile applications have not provided users with enough information or UI (user interface) design components, ever since mobile devices were launched back in the late 1990s. According to a related literature review, the UI design of applications, done from a design perspective to provide users with enough UI design components to deliver data, is of a high contextual UI design quality. Yet, there is very little research in the information systems (IS) field on the effects of contextual UI design quality on the ease of use of mobile shopping applications, or on the loyalty of users to the applications. The main research goals of this study are as follows: (1) to examine the direct effects of the contextual UI design quality of mobile shopping applications on the ease of use of the applications and on the loyalty of users to the applications and (2) to find the relationship between the ease of use of shopping applications and the loyalty of users to the applications. After conducting a survey, this study analyzed the data with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results showed that the contextual UI design quality of mobile shopping applications have significant direct effects on the ease of use of the applications and on the loyalty of users to the applications. In addition, the relationship between the ease of use of such applications and the loyalty of users to the applications was identified.