The influence of mobile application design features on users' stickiness intentions as mediated by emotional response

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of mobile design features on consumers' mobile app stickiness intentions, as mediated by users' emotional response (pleasure, arousal and dominance). Design/methodology/approach: Using the stimulus–organism–response model, this study employed conditional process modelling to investigate the influence of three categories of mobile design features on users' stickiness intentions. The emotional responses of pleasure–arousal–dominance were investigated for their mediating effect. The participants included women aged 18–36. Findings: Design features provided consumer-led interactions’ influence on emotional responses of pleasure, arousal and dominance. Mobile design features were not a significant predictor of stickiness intentions. Arousal was a significant mediator of mobile design features on stickiness intentions, whereas dominance had no mediating effects. Originality/value: This paper extends the growing research on mobile applications by investigating design features using Magrath and McCormick's (2013) mobile marketing design framework. This paper also adds to the body of knowledge on stickiness within a mobile context.