Evidence for The Broken Window Theory in UX?
In criminology, Broken Window Theory postulates that seemingly small defects (graffiti, broken windows) in the environment around us can lead to increase in more serious crime by the means of priming, norm-setting and signaling.
From my personal experience, there exists a similar effect between seemingly unrelated design and usability defects and user's ability to perform given task.
Example
When I go to example.com to book my flight, I notice their browser tab icon is pixelated on my retina MacBook (not updated to higher device pixel ratio even though it is 2017). Then I am needlessly prompted to save any unsaved changes in my profile page even thought I did not change any fields.
From there on I am suspicious of everything and it takes me more time to book my flight. When asked to rate my experience on the site I give it lower mark even though there was no real issue with the booking process itself.
The above example is highly anecdotal. Do others have similar experience? Am I correct to compare it the criminological theory, or is there more suitable UX concept for this? Is any research or data on this topic?