Online navigation is often considered to be an enjoyable activity, and users often use lighthearted terms about that activity, such as "surfing" and "cruising" the Web. Unfortunately, there is indeed a dark side to online navigation, with many users becoming lost among unfamiliar terms and suffering long delays. In this research-in-progress study we describe our experimental examination of two promising antecedents of ease of use (information scent and delay), and two consequences of ease of use (stress and non-adoption behavior). We also consider impact of stress on non-adoption behavior. We manipulate information scent and delay, and measure ease of use and stress both in the traditional manner (using questionnaires) and in a more objective manner (stress by physiological measurement and ease of use by the number of steps required). Adoption is also measured objectively, by recording participants' actual switching behavior.
