University of Lincoln RIF Studentships 2014
PROJECT DETAILS
Project Title
The use of virtual atmospheric cues such as colour and layout on e-consumer
behaviour
Project Reference
RIF2014S-29
Project Summary
Lincoln Business School in partnership with the School of Psychology at the
University of Lincoln invite applications for a PhD studentship.
With the gradual transition from traditional brick and mortar retailing to a more
modern click and mortar environment, information technology is becoming
increasingly dominant in daily life with a reported £87 billion in e-transactions
throughout the UK in 2012 alone.
e-Retailers are facing unprecedented demands to entice, captivate and retain their
clientele, with online marketers seeking to better understand the thought processes
behind consumer buying behaviours. Despite the increasing scholarly focus, online
consumer behaviour literature and in particular, the influence of online retail
atmospherics, still remains fragmented with researchers recognising the need for
multilateral consumer technology approaches .
Such shortages of empirical scientific discourse within the field has led to the
application by practitioners of traditional print medium theories such as the
Gutenburg Principle, Z-pattern and F-pattern layouts being applied to the online
environment, with unknown validity and reliability.
Preliminary empirical work carried out in Lincoln Business School based on customdesigned experimental web pages leads, on the contrary, to a suggestion of a
different layout. To the proposer’s knowledge no prior theory or empirical studies
have reported such a layout. The preliminary study, though, is based upon mousetracking rather than eye-tracking, supported by a reported correlation between
mouse-track and eye-track. This correlation needs to be confirmed or otherwise by
further research, as does, critically, the theoretical support and confirmation of the
layout.
The proposed PhD studentship will therefore aim to make contributions to theory and
practice by first generating new theory (or adapting existing theory such as the
Gutenburg Principle), then empirically testing predictions. The empirical testing
phase will aim to test retina movement during online retail page browsing. In
particular, the effect on consumer behaviour of online retail atmospheric cues such
as colour and page layout will be studied.
Applicants should have a good honours undergraduate degree and a Masters degree
in a cognate discipline, preferably from UK or EU universities. Importantly, applicants
should ideally have prior research experience in or knowledge of e-retail
atmospherics and/or eye-tracking or mouse-tracking.
The studentship will be based in the Marketing and Supply Chain Research Group of
Lincoln Business School, a group with a track record of research and completed
PhDs in areas concerning, for example, e-retail and e-atmospherics. The studentship
will also be in partnership with the University of Lincoln School of Psychology, which
has internationally-recognised expertise in and cutting edge equipment for eyetracking.
Informal Enquiries
Potential applicants may call Professor Charles Dennis on +44(0)1522 835356 for an
informal discussion or email: cdennis@lincoln.ac.uk .
Eligibility
All Candidates must satisfy the University’s minimum doctoral entry criteria for
studentships of an honours degree at Upper Second Class (2:1) or an appropriate
Masters degree or equivalent. A minimum IELTS (Academic) score of 7 (or
equivalent) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first language.
Funded Studentships are open to both UK/EU students unless otherwise specified.
How to Apply
Please send a covering letter outlining your interest and proposed approach (up to 1
page A4) with an accompanying CV to studentshipscss@lincoln.ac.uk by close of
day on 18th April 2014.
Candidates will be notified w/c 5th May of the outcome of the process and if invited to
interview, these are anticipated to take place w/c 26h May.