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An empirical test of the link between web site quality and forward enterprise
integration with web consumers
Adel M. Aladwani
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To cite this document:
Adel M. Aladwani, (2006),"An empirical test of the link between web site quality and forward enterprise
integration with web consumers", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 12 Iss 2 pp. 178 - 190
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637150610657521
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BPMJ
12,2 An empirical test of the link
between web site quality and
forward enterprise integration
178
with web consumers
Adel M. Aladwani
Department of QM and IS, College of Administrative Sciences,
Kuwait University, Edailiyah, Kuwait
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Abstract
Purpose To understand the relationship between web site quality and consumers web attitudes
and purchases.
Design/methodology/approach The paper constructs and tests a model linking four
sub-dimensions of web site quality to purchasing intent of consumers using data gathered via a
field survey.
Findings Only the technical dimension of web site quality influences consumers purchasing
behavior both directly and indirectly through their attitudes towards the web site. Specific content
quality and appearance quality have relatively stronger association with consumers attitudes towards
the web site than technical quality and general content quality do.
Research limitations/implications First, the present study used a sample of students in testing
the proposed model. In the future, there may be a need to re-test the same research model using a wider
sample of web consumers. Second, attitudes toward and intentions to buying online may change over
time and this study does not take this fact into account. Future research may need to examine the
proposed relationships using a longitudinal design.
Practical implications It was shown that by giving attention to building a technically sound web
site with effective content and attractive design, an organization could bring in more consumers to its
online business and convince them to make purchases.
Originality/value Understanding the link between multiple dimensions of web site quality and
purchasing behavior of web consumers should help organizations know how to improve forward
integration with their customers. Previous research, although helpful, failed to examine this important
relationship. This paper tries to fill this void in the literature.
Keywords Electronic commerce, World wide web, Purchasing, Consumer behavior, Quality
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
By all accounts, the recent internet statistics are staggering. Some reports (e.g. ClickZ:
www.clickz.com) estimate that approximately 1 billion people will have access to the
web by the end of this year. Some other reports claim that since the turn of this decade
the percentage of web users who made purchases over the internet has increased
Business Process Management worldwide by 50 percent (Shim et al., 2002). Yet another set of reports suggest that the
Journal monetary value of web purchasing transactions is expected to reach US $7 trillion by
Vol. 12 No. 2, 2006
pp. 178-190 the end of 2004 (Sanders and Temkin, 2000). Most organizations are becoming more
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-7154
cognizant of this trend and are trying to gain advantage of this remarkable potentiality
DOI 10.1108/14637150610657521 through integrating web technologies into their operations (Gefen et al., 2003; Heston
et al., 2003; Currie, 2000; Teo and Tan, 1998; Kalakota and Whinston, 1997). However, Web site quality
most organizations have limited understanding of how to design a customer-centered
web site that can help them establish better commercial relationships with their
customers and to secure the success of their e-Business initiative.
Fortunately, there has been a significant interest in the notion of web site quality
from both the web site research and business communities. However, previous
research, although helpful, failed to examine a model linking multiple dimensions of 179
web site quality to purchasing behavior of web consumers in order to help
organizations understand how to improve forward integration with their customers. In
the present study, an attempt is made to extend past research by examining the
influence of four sub-dimensions of web site quality on attitudes and purchasing
intentions of web consumers. The proposed model has its roots in Daviss Technology
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Acceptance Model (Davis et al., 1989), which postulates that behavioral beliefs of the
user about the technology predict his or her attitudes towards the same. In addition, the
model theorizes that ones beliefs and attitudes affect ones usage intentions of the
technology. It is hoped that the findings of the current study would be valuable to
organizations interested in enhancing their forward integration with their individual
customers. Most organizations still would like to understand more closely the nature of
the influence of quality aspects of their web sites on purchasing decisions of web
consumers.
2. Background
Past research in the area can be classified into either web site quality or web site
adoption research. Studies focusing on web site quality are usually interested in issues
relevant to the salient design or usability attributes of web sites. For example,
Aladwani and Palvia (2002) suggested an integrated web site quality model consisting
of four dimensions: technical quality, general content quality, specific content quality,
and appearance quality. Liu and Arnett (2000) identified information and service
quality, system use, playfulness, and system design quality as key dimensions of web
site quality. Huizingh (2000) named two types of web quality: content and design. Wan
(2000) recognized four categories of web site quality attributes: information,
friendliness, responsiveness, and reliability. Rose et al. (1999) highlighted the
importance of such web site quality features as download speed, web interface, search
functionality, measurement of web success, security, and internet standards. Misic and
Johnson (1999) suggested such web-related quality criteria as finding contact
information (e.g. e-mail, people, phones, and mail address), finding main page, speed,
uniqueness of functionality, ease of navigation, counter, currency, wording, and color
and style. Olsina et al. (1999) specified quality attributes for academic web sites. These
authors took an engineering point of view and identified factors such as cohesiveness
by grouping main control objects, direct controls permanence, contextual controls
stability, etc. Bell and Tang (1998) identified factors such as access to the web, content,
graphics, structure, user friendliness, navigation, usefulness, and unique features.
Schacklett (2000) proposed nine tips for improving web site quality, including effective
use of graphics and colors, 24/7 web site accessibility, and ease of web site use and
navigation. Levine (1999) offered tips to help a company with web site design including
fast web page download, web page interactivity, and current content, among other
factors. Wilson (1998) recommended avoiding seven mistakes relevant to web site
BPMJ design. Moreover, based on their own personal experience, Barron et al. (1998)
12,2 recommended 39 guidelines relevant to web site graphics, text, links, page size and
length, and multimedia.
Web site adoption studies, on the other hand, are interested in issues related to how
customers accept/adopt/transact with online business. For instance, Gefen et al. (2003)
examined the factors influencing trust in an online shopping context. Heijden and
180 Verhagen (2002) analyzed the relationships among online store image, attitude toward
online purchasing, and intention to purchase online. Liang and Lai (2002) studied the
influence of motivation, hygiene, and media richness factors on the consumer purchase
decision. Liao and Cheung (2002) examined the effect of convenience, user experience,
friendliness, user involvement, system quality, and transaction speed on the intention
of consumers to use e-banking. Lin and Wu (2002) studied the links among online
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service quality, beliefs about the web site, attitude towards using the site, intention to
use the web site, and actual usage. Loiacono et al. (2002) tested the influence of 12
quality factors on web site reuse. Ranganathan and Ganapathy (2002) examined the
role of information content, design, security, and privacy in differentiating between low
and high peoples intention to purchase from the web. Shim et al. (2002) examined the
effect of the existence of policy information, existence of an 800 number, number of
clicks, and requirement of sideways scrolling on customer satisfaction. Song and
Zahedi (2001) developed and empirically tested a model linking perceived price,
perceived service, interpersonal beliefs, self-efficacy, and resource facilitation to
purchase reactions of online customers. Liao and Cheung (2001) examined the impact
of the life content of products, transactions security, price, vendor quality, IT
education, internet usage, and network speed on the willingness of consumers to e-shop
over the internet. Tan and Teo (2000) investigated the attitudinal, subjective norms,
and behavioral control factors influencing the intention to use internet banking. Gefen
and Straub (2000) examined the effect of ease of use and usefulness on peoples
intention to inquire and purchase online. Gefen (2000) studied the influence of
familiarity, disposition to trust, and trust on peoples intention to inquire and purchase
online. Bellman et al. (1999) analyzed the factors predicting actual purchases over the
web such as looking for product information over the internet, the number of months
online, number of daily e-mails, work online every week, read news online, household
working hours, etc.
The above review reveals that missing from the literature on web site quality and
adoption research is a model linking a unifying view of web site quality to the
attitudinal and behavioral consequences of web consumers. On one hand, past web site
quality research stopped short to empirically examining the possible user-related
consequences of such quality attributes. On the other hand, past web site adoption
research considered the adoption behavior of web consumers and a constellation of
factors leading to such behavior; but missing from this list of factors is a consolidated
view of web site quality (an exception is the work of Loiacono et al. (2002), but it
regrettably suffers from several serious conceptual and measurement problems see
Loiacono (2000) for a detailed description of instrument development results). Shim
et al. (2002) and Lin and Wu (2002), for example, focused on examining four single-item
quality attributes, whereas Liao and Cheung (2001), Gefen and Straub (2000), and
Gefen (2000) focused on three, two, and zero attributes, respectively. Liang and Lai
(2002), Liao and Cheung (2002), and Song and Zahedi (2001) studies were much wider
in their focus than the other studies, but they missed several critical web site quality Web site quality
factors such as web site attractiveness, web site organization, web site interactivity,
proper use of fonts, colors, and multimedia, finding contact information, content
conciseness, and content currency, to name a few. None of the studies that were
reviewed proposed and empirically tested the relationship between an integrated model
of web site quality with the purchasing behavior of web consumers. The present study
tries to fill this void in past research. 181
3. Research model
Figure 1 shows the research model of the present investigation. Based on the
suggestions of the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis et al., 1989), the current model
proposes that the integrated four-dimension view of web site quality as proposed by
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Aladwani and Palvia (2002) (technical quality, general content quality, specific content
quality, and appearance quality) affects consumers attitudes towards the web site.
Consumers attitudes, in turn, influence consumers intentions whether to purchase
from the visited web site or not. Furthermore, the research model acknowledges the
direct relationship between purchase intentions and the actual purchase from the web
site but the present investigation does not test for this relationship due to obvious
limitations related to the selected sample of respondents. The research model,
relationships, and hypotheses will be explicated in detail in the following paragraphs.
Figure 1.
The research model
BPMJ several technological advances in web security in recent years, consumers are still
12,2 expressing concern about the potential safety of their monetary transactions over the
web. In a recent study, Aladwani (2001) found that security remains the major barrier
to electronic commerce applications. Gefen and Straub (2000) found a significant
positive relationship between the ease of using the web site and peoples intention to
inquire and intention to purchase online (through usefulness). Liao and Cheung (2002)
182 found that 24-hour access (site availability) was singled out by 91 percent of the
respondents to be important for e-banking adoption; and found that transaction speed
is a significant determinant of consumers willingness to use the service. Liang and Lai
(2002) found that the search function was the second and navigational hyperlinks was
the eighth most important factor affecting consumer choice of online stores.
Ranganathan and Ganapathy (2002) found that the availability of interactivity options
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in the web site (part of the information content dimension) is a significant factor
differentiating between low and high purchase intent. In short, a web site with inferior
technical attributes may turn potential consumers away to other web sites.
H1a. Technical quality will influence consumers attitudes towards the web site.
H1b. Technical quality will influence consumers intentions to purchase from the
web site.
for and collects details about, for example, different products and/or services and
supplier options. Bellman et al. (1999) found that looking for product information over
the internet is the most significant predictor of online buying behavior. Liang and Lai
(2002) found that allowing for product returns was a significant factor affecting a
consumers choice of an e-store. Without these and similar specific content aspects and
information, a web site can face serious challenges to achieve its goal to induce the
desired consumers attitudes and purchasing intentions.
H3a. Specific content quality will influence consumers attitudes towards the web
site.
H3b. Specific content quality will influence consumers intentions to purchase from
the web site.
relationship between consumers attitude toward the web site and their intentions to
purchase from it is also predicted in the present study.
H5. Attitudes will influence consumers intentions to purchase from the web site.
4. Methodology
4.1 Sample and experimental design
The respondents to the questionnaire were students enrolled in three different sections
of an introductory Information Systems class at a business school. The researcher
followed the same procedure in the three data gathering sessions, which took place in
the same internet-connected computer lab. All personal computers in the lab had
similar hardware configurations, operating systems, and internet browsers. Before
administering the questionnaire, the participants were asked to read a brief overview
of the study and instructed to search for, access, and navigate through the web site of a
well-known bookstore for some time. The researcher then administered the
instruments to the participants and instructed them to search for and request any
MS Office book that can be used for the same course they are enrolled in, but to stop
before actually paying for it. For all sessions the author was present to answer
questions and provide any necessary assistance. One hundred and four web users
participated in this study; and usable responses were collected from one hundred and
one. All of the students in the sample were from 18 to 21 years of age. Approximately,
64 percent of the respondents are females, and 36 percent are males. Of the students
that participated, a majority was business majors. Twenty-one respondent out of the
101 participants describe themselves as having some internet knowledge, 47 of the
participants say they have moderate knowledge of internet, and the remaining, 33 of
the 101 participants, say they have advanced knowledge of the internet.
4.2 Scales
Three instruments were used to operationalize study variables. First, a 25-item
instrument tapping technical quality, general content quality, specific content quality,
and appearance quality is used to measure web site quality (Aladwani and Palvia,
2002). Cronbachs a for the 25-item scale was 0.90; and for technical quality, general
content quality, specific content quality, and appearance quality, Cronbachs a is 0.91,
0.85, 0.91, and 0.87, respectively. Second, a 2-item instrument is used to measure
consumers attitudes towards the web site. The two items are:
(1) visiting this web site was a good idea; and Web site quality
(2) I am not fully satisfied with the visit I made to this web site (reverse coded).
A reliability test using Cronbachs a resulted in a score of 0.81. The items were
measured using a seven-point scale ranging from (1) Strongly disagree to (7)
Strongly agree. Finally, another 2-item instrument is used to measure consumers
intentions to purchase from the web site. The two items are: 185
(1) I do not intend to buy from this web site any time in the future (reverse coded);
and
(2) I will buy from this web site some time in the near future (during the coming six
months).
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Cronbachs a for the intentions scale was 0.84. The items were measured using a
seven-point scale ranging from (1) Strongly disagree to (7) Strongly agree.
Clarity 0.828
Currency 0.710
Conciseness 0.761
Accuracy 0.673
Finding contact info. 0.898
Finding firm general info. 0.844
Finding products details 0.898
Finding customer policies 0.785
Finding customer support 0.816
Attractiveness 0.713
Organization 0.662
Proper use of fonts 0.854
Proper use of colors 0.829
Proper use of multimedia 0.825
Visiting is a good idea 0.813
Not satisfied with visit (R) 0.699
No intention to buy (R) 0.752
Will buy in the near future 0.796
Eigenvalue 5.08 4.04 3.58 3.40 1.86 1.73
Table I. Percent explained variance 17.51 13.93 12.36 11.73 6.42 5.97
Factor analysis and Mean 4.54 4.42 4.40 4.40 4.48 4.50
descriptive statistics SD 1.08 1.00 1.03 1.05 1.24 1.01
Standardized
Model Adjusted R 2 F-value Predictor variables coefficient (b) t-value
Attitudes towards
the web site 0.263 9.900 * * Specific content quality 0.211 2.260 *
Appearance quality 0.209 2.234 *
Technical quality 0.192 1.987 *
General content quality 0.183 2.002 *
Purchase intentions 0.274 19.917 * * Attitudes 0.338 3.663 * *
Technical quality 0.308 3.340 * *
Appearance quality 0.077 0.813
Specific content quality 0.060 0.632
Table II. General content quality 0.017 0.189
Multiple regression
results Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01
Web site quality
187
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Figure 2.
Multiple regression results
build potential consumers trust and thus encourage them to purchase from the web
site. It also confirms the importance of effective design and animation for attracting
consumers to the web site. Nonetheless, besides paying attention to building a web site
with appropriate general and specific content and appearance quality characteristics,
organizations must also not forget that the purchase decision of a consumer from a web
site is influenced by his or her perception of the technical quality of the web site.
Consequently, it is critical for an organization to build a technically sound web site and
convince visiting users of its technical adequacy and merits, i.e. secure, easy to use, etc.
in order to encourage these users to do online business with the organization. While the
author recommends that organizations dress-up their web sites effectively, he also
advises them not to overlook the basic technical requirements of their web sites;
focusing on the basics is not an old fashioned strategy even in the era of the world wide
web.
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Corresponding author
Adel M. Aladwani can be contacted at: adwani@kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw
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