Applying relationship theories to web site design: development and validation of a site-communality scale Daniel Tomiuk* & Alain Pinsonneault † *University of Quebec in Montreal, Department of Management and Technology, 315 St. Catherine Street East, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 4R2, email: tomiuk.daniel@uqam.ca, and † McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management, 1001 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1G5, email: alain.pinsonneault@mcgill.ca Abstract. Our study investigates whether relationship theories can be of help in designing web sites which foster greater customer loyalty. Based on literature reviews of Communal-Relationship Theory from Social Psychology, communality from marketing research and related concepts (e.g. commercial friendships), we develop and refine a multidimensional measure of ‘site communality’ using a sample of 305 participants. Each visited one among several real web sites chosen across three industries (i.e. banking, pharmaceuticals and insurance). We define site communality as the extent to which web site content signals that a company’s relationship with its customers goes beyond the formal, ‘tit for tat’ business deal- ings that are typically expected from purely commercial exchanges, and instead, more closely abide by the norms and behaviours evocative of friendships and/or family relations. Our results indicate that demonstration of caring, role spanning and authenticity/genuineness are its most important dimensions. Preliminary, find- ings also show that site communality is positively related to the benevolence dimension of online trust which is an important antecedent of loyalty. The practical implications of our study are discussed in the form of recommendations to help companies in designing web sites high in site communality. Keywords: web site interface design, communal-relationship theory, site commu- nality, customer loyalty INTRODUCTION Online environments make fostering customer loyalty more challenging. They lower customer search costs and facilitate switching (Bakos, 1997). Even so, more and more companies are doing business online. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly important to identify web site doi:10.1111/j.1365-2575.2008.00293.x Info Systems J (2009) 19, 413–435 413 © 2008 The Authors Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd