Hedonic VS Utilitarian Values of Online Avatars
The objective of this paper was to examine the impact of avatars’ utilitarian and hedonic values on the different dimensions of e-service quality. The utilitarian value of the
avatar impacts 9 of the 10 dimensions of e-service quality. The hedonic value impacts 5 of the 10 dimensions of e-service quality. Our results can also have immediate and direct implications for companies who want to improve a specific dimension of their website by the use of an avatar. Moreover, this study will be useful for developers of online agents in order to adjust the knowledge of their avatars to clients’ and users’ needs. Finally, the model of this research can be used for evaluating the real impact of an avatar on the quality of service delivered through the website.