The Paradox of User Perceived Performance : An Empirical Study on User Experience in a Digital Platform Ecosystem

Sammanfattning: User experience is today widely known but the complexity of this phenomenon is rarely left unnoticed. It is righteous to claim that the mobile application landscape is characterized by tough competition and high demands from users. To meet these demands the performance of the application is essential. There appears to exist consensus in existing literature regarding the importance of performance attributes for the user experience of mobile applications. However, there is limited research on how startup time is perceived and its effects on the user experience. Hence, this thesis aims to contribute to this field by investigating the formulated research question: To what extent does startup performance affect the user experience for a mobile application? Using a mixed method approach, this research aims to deepen the understanding of how end users of mobile applications perceive performance. The quantitative part of this study investigates what proxy variables that affect the performance during the startup process of a mobile application. The qualitative part aims to assess how users perceive startup time with respect to influencing factors and the effects on user experience.