With the deep integration of digital technology and artistic culture, online art exhibitions have gradually emerged as an important medium for cultural communication and artistic experience. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, online art exhibi...
With the deep integration of digital technology and artistic culture, online art exhibitions have gradually emerged as an important medium for cultural communication and artistic experience. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, online art exhibitions transcended the limitations of time and space, demonstrating not only the potential to serve as an alternative to offline exhibitions but also unique advantages in terms of information dissemination and audience reach. As a result, they have become a crucial channel of interaction between art exhibitions and the public. However, existing academic research has primarily focused on the curatorial technologies and media forms of online exhibitions, with insufficient exploration of how experiential elements influence user satisfaction and behavioral intention. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to construct a research model based on the Strategic Experiential Modules (SEMs) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), in order to examine the impact of experiential elements in online art exhibitions on user satisfaction and behavioral intention. Through empirical analysis, this study investigates the relationships between experiential elements, user satisfaction, and behavioral intention, and proposes design strategies to optimize the user experience of online art exhibitions based on the research findings.
To achieve this research objective, the study focuses on online art exhibitions and targets users who have experience with such exhibitions. A comprehensive research model integrating SEMs and TAM was constructed and empirically tested through a combination of literature review, expert panel discussions, and questionnaire surveys. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0, including reliability and validity testing, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) path analysis, in order to empirically verify the model’s goodness of fit and the relationships among its paths.
By integrating the Strategic Experiential Modules (SEMs) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study expands the theoretical boundaries of research on technology acceptance and user experience within the field of digital culture and art, and establishes a systematic analytical framework for understanding user experience in online art exhibitions. It also verifies the applicability of the SEMs and TAM models in virtual art environments.
The results of the direct effects analysis indicate the following: First, except for the feel experience and relate experience, which did not show significant direct effects on perceived ease of use, all other experiential elements demonstrated significantly positive effects on both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Second, with the exception of feel experience and relate experience, which did not have significant direct effects on user satisfaction, the remaining experiential elements exhibited significantly positive effects on both user satisfaction and behavioral intention. Third, perceived ease of use had a significantly positive direct effect on perceived usefulness, and both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness significantly and positively influenced user satisfaction and behavioral intention.
The results of the mediating effects analysis indicate the following: First, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness served as important mediators between most experiential elements and both user satisfaction and behavioral intention, with particularly significant and positive mediating effects found in the paths of sense experience, think experience, and act experience. Second, neither feel experience nor relate experience demonstrated significant positive influence on user satisfaction and behavioral intention through the mediating role of perceived ease of use. Third, user satisfaction exhibited full or partial mediating effects across multiple paths, functioning as a critical bridge that links technology perceptions with behavioral intention.
Based on the research findings, this study proposes design strategies to optimize the user experience of online art exhibitions. First, online art exhibitions should comprehensively enhance sensory design, enrich information content, simplify interaction mechanisms, and strengthen emotional connection, thereby improving users’ perceived value in terms of knowledge acquisition, aesthetic appreciation, and social interaction. Second, design optimization should focus on audiovisual presentation, information architecture, and interaction logic, rather than relying solely on emotional arousal or social relationship maintenance. Third, by advancing visual immersion, cognitive clarity, and operational fluency, a complete experience path from “feeling” to “thinking” to “acting” can be constructed to enhance user satisfaction and stimulate continuous behavioral intention. Fourth, improving the intuitiveness of system interfaces and the ease of operational processes, while simultaneously enhancing the educational value, substitutability, and informational depth of exhibition content, can comprehensively increase users’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, ultimately fostering a high-satisfaction, high-reuse online exhibition ecosystem.
However, this study is not without limitations. The research sample was primarily drawn from users of online art exhibitions on specific social media platforms, which may have been influenced by regional and cultural differences. In addition, since the study employed cross-sectional data, it was difficult to capture the dynamic changes in users’ attitudes over time. Future research could adopt cross-cultural comparisons, longitudinal tracking, and experimental designs to further explore the mechanisms of user experience across different exhibition types and immersive technology contexts, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of online art exhibitions.