Knowledge Management Competitiveness Research Articles

The usability of websites for knowledge acquisition: a taxonomy of influences

Electronic commerce is concerned with initiatives for achieving business objectives via computer/communication technologies to manage knowledge in and across value chains. One main purpose of a website is to enable or facilitate acquisition of knowledge by both its users and its sponsor. How to design a website to maximise its usability for acquiring knowledge is an important question, one whose answer is significant for a firm's knowledge management competitiveness in the electronic commerce era. Although design tips/guidelines exist, there has so far been little systematic, formal research into the issue of what features a website should exhibit in order to be highly usable for acquiring knowledge. As a foundation for conducting such research, this paper introduces a relatively comprehensive taxonomy that characterises the main elements that influence usability of a website designed for knowledge acquisition. A sample research model based on these elements is described.