Examining the Influence of Visual Stimuli and Personal Characteristics on Users’ Willingness-to-Wait Time and Waiting Patterns

Abstract

Waiting is inevitable in many interaction scenarios. Prior research suggests that waiting experience is associated with factors at both individual and contextual levels. This paper reports an experiment study examining the influence of visual stimuli and personal characteristics on users’ waiting behavior. Our results show that higher delayed gratification (individual) is associated with longer waiting duration and shorter strategy formation time. As for features of visual stimuli (contextual), rotating-bright loading icons lengthen time perception and discourage people from waiting. These results provide design implications such as personalized waiting duration and ways to create better waiting experience.