The influence of cognitive and personality characteristics on user navigation: An empirical study

Abstract

An empirical study aiming to investigate the influence of cognitive and personality characteristics on user web navigation is presented in this paper. Individual cognitive abilities and personality dimensions were identified and validated, and expected correlations with results of objective variables were postulated. Effectiveness, efficiency and orientation within a web site were the measured objective variables. Measures of spatial ability and extraversion were correlated with objective accomplishment measures and orientation. A high statistically significant correlation was found between spatial ability measure and orientation measure. Conversely, no other correlations were supported. Future work will be significantly improved by employing new variables, measures and instruments, especially for user personality dimensions. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.