An empirical study on the effect of the interpretability of metaphors in UI on the learnability of mobile apps

Abstract

Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs, have evolved continuously from the time when they debuted in the late 1990s. At the same time, the structure and usage of mobile applications have also become increasingly complex. As a result, it is often found to be difficult to understand the user interface (UI) of applications. In addition, the low interpretability of metaphors in UIs makes the problem worse. These conditions and user environments inhibit smooth learning of applications. Accordingly, it can be inferred that the low interpretability of metaphors is expected to eventually negatively affect the learnability of applications. However, prior studies in the information systems (IS) field have not shown much interest in the effect of the interpretability of metaphors in UIs of mobile applications on the learnability of the applications. The main research goals of this study are as follows: (1) to examine the effects of the interpretability of metaphors in UIs of mobile applications on the mental model of users of the applications and on the learnability of the applications, and (2) to find the effect of the mental model of users on the learnability of the applications. The data was collected through a survey and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for the analysis. The results showed that the interpretability of metaphors has significant effects on the mental model of users as well as on the learnability of applications.