Evaluation of Indian universities' websites in terms of information quality: differences in the perspectives of end users segments based on their socio-demographic characteristics

Abstract

Today, with the advent of web technologies, there has been a sea of change in the business scenario of not only the commercial organisations but also the higher education institutions. The organisational goals can be achieved more easily and efficiently by reaching out to a vast population through this medium. The educational institutes can provide quick and reliable services to the stakeholders of these websites within the shortest span of time and limited financial resources. However, the benefits to be derived from such websites rest more on their content quality in accordance with the requirements and expectations of the end users. Thus, this study is a modest attempt to evaluate the content quality of Indian universities' websites through the perspectives of end users based on their demographic variables such as gender, age, education and status. The study is based on primary data which has been collected through a well-structured and pre-tested questionnaire from the respondents. The findings are extremely significant for the Indian universities as the improved quality of their websites would help them to attract more and more number of students for admission, and in improving their ranking.