Website Success Research Articles

Balancing web personalization and consumer privacy concerns: Mechanisms of consumer trust and reactance

AbstractInformation technology and e‐commerce enable websites to provide personalized services based on consumer information, thereby providing convenience to consumers. However, the collection and use of consumer information may trigger concerns regarding privacy invasion. Grounded in exchange theory, the current study constructs a framework that links web personalization to consumer decisions (i.e., website loyalty and purchase intention) through consumer trust and reactance. The study also uses reactance theory as the theoretical basis to examine the moderating role of privacy concerns. An online survey was used to assess the effect of web personalization on consumer loyalty. The results show that consumers' privacy concerns negatively moderate the relationship between web personalization and website loyalty, and the influencing mechanism differs according to the levels of privacy concerns. More specifically, when consumers are less concerned about privacy, web personalization strengthens consumer trust to enhance loyalty. When consumers are more concerned about privacy, web personalization affects their loyalty through psychological reactance. The study findings show that although personalized services provide convenience to consumers, websites should carefully consider consumers' privacy issues. The trade‐off between web personalization and privacy concerns is necessary for a website's success.

Managing immune-related adverse events (irAEs): A new educational resource for health care professionals (HCPs) and patients.

75 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have changed treatment options for many cancer patients. Educating HCPs, patients, and caregivers is crucial to early identification of irAEs, ensuring prompt intervention and improved outcomes. Resources for oncology HCPs are scattered, including published articles, websites, and pharmaceutical materials. These resources are restricted to information from the package insert and limited in the scope of guidance provided. Methods: Melanoma advance practice providers (APPs) collaborated with the AIM at Melanoma Foundation and Terranova Medica in 2016 to create the Melanoma Nurse Initiative, featuring educational information regarding immunotherapy and irAE management. Based on website success (>9200 professional interactions), learner survey data, and continued expansion of agents and indications, the need for a more expansive resource was identified. Results: AIM With Immunotherapy ( www.aimwithimmunotherapy.org/ ) launched in October 2018. Resources were developed by APPs with extensive experience with immunotherapy, education, and irAE management. Care Step Pathways provide comprehensive information on assessment, toxicity grading, and management. The HCP Toolkits include printable pages on drug information, side effect management, clinical pearls, and resources. Patient Action Plans, individualizable for each patient, include many detailed irAE information sheets. Videos for both HCPs and patients as well as a community Q/A panel provide additional multimedia, interactive resources. Learner surveys are planned to gauge how the content is used in the clinic setting and remaining unmet educational needs. Conclusions: Knowledge regarding immunotherapy, irAEs, and management of toxicities unique to immunotherapy is critical to maximizing clinical outcomes and quality of life for patients and their caregivers. AIM With Immunotherapy is a new website developed by expert oncology practitioners that provides comprehensive non-branded HCP resources and printable information to facilitate effective education of patients receiving immunotherapy.

Mobile Commerce Website Success: Antecedents of Consumer Satisfaction and Purchase Intention

With the rapid development of apparel mobile commerce in the United States, more companies view mobile commerce as a new source of competitive advantage. Despite the importance of apparel mobile website quality and its effect on consumer satisfaction and future purchase stimulus, extant research has paid little attention to these topics. This study proposes a website quality–consumer satisfaction–purchase intention research model based on the self-regulatory process theory. Six dimensions of apparel mobile website quality—website visual appeal, apparel visual appeal, brand trust, website information quality, website response time, and website security—were investigated. In all, 293 eligible responses were collected via an online survey. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to test the proposed relationships. Results reveal that website information quality, website visual appeal, apparel visual appeal, and website security positively affect consumer satisfaction toward apparel mobile commerce websites, while website response time and brand trust show insignificant impacts on consumer satisfaction. With higher satisfaction on an apparel mobile commerce website, consumers are more likely to purchase apparel through the website.

Improving website structure through reducing information overload

It is well known that website success relies heavily on its usability. Previous studies find that website usability depends greatly upon its visual complexity which has significant effects on users' psychological perception and cognitive load. In this study, we use a page's outdegree as one measurement for its visual complexity. In general, outdegrees should be kept not too high in page design as large outdegrees are often signs of high page complexity which can adversely affect user navigation. This is particularly desirable and critical for maintaining website structures, because as a website evolves over time, the need for information also changes. Website structures must be updated periodically to align with users' information needs. In this process, obsolete links should be removed to avoid clustering of links that could cause information overload to users. However, the need to slim down website structures is understudied in the literature. In this paper, we propose a mathematical programming model that reduces information load by removing links from highly clustered pages while minimizing the impact to users. Results from tests on a real dataset indicate that the model not only significantly reduces page complexity with little impact on user navigation, but also can be solved effectively. The model is also tested on large synthetic datasets to demonstrate its remarkable scalability.

Health Website Success: User Engagement in Health-Related Websites

<p class="0abstractCxSpFirst">Health-related websites are increasingly accessed on the Internet. More online users are using health-related websites, and rely on it to get answers for their health questions. Health care providers try to develop websites that focus on the users’ needs. One of the key factors, to develop users' driven health-related websites, is supporting users’ engagement.</p><p class="0abstractCxSpLast">This study proposes a research model that investigates factors that are critical to users’ engagement in health-related websites. Three factors were identified accordingly; website usability, website interactivity, and users' perceived health information quality. A limited amount of research has previously explored such a thorough list.</p>240 respondents participated in an online survey, to test the research model. Results show that the engagement antecedents identified by the study are significant, and explain a great percentage of the variance for the engagement. The study concluded by implications for theory and practice.

Encouraging online engagement: The role of interdependent self-construal and social motives in fostering online participation

Developing and maintaining a user base that actively contributes to an online community is often essential to a website's success. For many online communities, developing such a user-base can be challenge for web designers. Working from a functionalist perceptive, two studies explored how the individual difference of interdependent self-construal was related to participation and engagement in the online community MovieLens.org. In the first study, we found that those individuals high in interdependent self-construal were particularly unlikely to contribute to the website. In an attempt to increase the online engagement of this type of user, we then created an interactive web feature that tapped into the social motives of those high in interdependent self-construal. This feature allows users to create Top Five movie lists that can be shared with other users. In the second study, we found that interdependent self-construal was associated with more use of the Top Five lists feature, that using this feature was associated with more interest in seeing others' lists, which in turn predicted more interest in MovieLens. Implications for web design and psychological theory are discussed.

The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland

Literature suggests dozens of ways of how to quantify the success of social media. However, there is no consent about the measurement of the return of investment (ROI). Only very limited empirical work is looking at the topic especially in tourism. This study is one of the first attempts to look at the ROI of tourism organizations. In doing so, various input (i.e. budget, manpower, amount of platforms used) and outcome (i.e. posts, website success and social media KPIs such as number of posts, interaction, and page performance index) variables are analysed. Responses of 150 tourism organizations to an online questionnaire and social media data collected via the monitoring tool Fanpage Karma provide insights for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. Our data indicates that despite an ever increasing importance of online services for the customer journey, the monetary and manpower resources allocated to online marketing and social media is modest for most tourism organizations of the three surveyed countries. The achieved outcomes of the tourism organizations are weak especially when it comes to engagement figures. Revealed relationships such as between marketing budget and success measures for YouTube videos are presented and a discussion is provided.

Usability Evaluation to Enhance Software Quality of Cultural Conservation System Based on Nielsen Model (WikiBudaya)

WikiBudaya is a web-based encyclopedia application specifically processing information and knowledge on Indonesian culture in forms of articles. It is managed by the Department of Culture and Tourism in East Java Province, Indonesia (DISBUDAPAR JATIM). In the process of its development, the required software quality is not yet controlled. Consequently, WikiBudaya is not yet officially released in accordance with software development life cycle (SDLC). Accordingly, it is necessary to evaluate it by means of software quality control, specifically focused on a usability aspect, i.e.: component of non-functional need to assess the website success. WikiBudaya usability evaluation is based on Nielson Model by adopting user testing method with descriptive statistic data for interpreting the usability quality evaluation. Next, to draw comprehensive results, the result of hypothesis testing is followed up with conclusion of final results in form of recommendations for WikiBudaya website enhancement in order to facilitate better usability by the users and sustainable development.

DMO tourism website’s success evaluation model and framework

Evaluation of the websites in tourism is a developing area of research. DMO websites are official representatives of the tourism destinations; they aim to attract more tourists. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate website in order to make timely changes, and maintain qualitative website, which is able to attract and keep attention of web users and is able to grow prospective tourists’ interest towards the promoted tourism destination. This paper presents an evaluation model and framework for the assessment of the tourism DMO website success in web-users and tourists attraction. The model presented in this paper is based on D&M IS Success model, with influence from TAM model, Rocha’s Global quality website evaluation framework and Lee and Kozar’s model for the investigation of the effect of website quality on e‑business success.

The Mediator Roles of Attitude toward the Web Site and User Satisfaction on the Effect of System Quality on Net Benefit: A Structural Equation Model on Web Site Success

The Mediator Roles of Attitude toward the Web Site and User Satisfaction on the Effect of System Quality on Net Benefit: A Structural Equation Model on Web Site Success

The Mediator Roles Of Attitude Toward The Web Site And User Satisfaction On The Effect Of System Quality On Net Benefit: A Structural Equation Model On Web Site Success

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediator roles of attitude toward the web site and user satisfaction on the effect of system quality on net benefit. A new conceptual model for web site success is developed based on previous models in the literature. System quality is one of the most important antecedent of perception of net benefit for customers of B2C sites. The effect of system quality on net benefit has been through user satisfaction in the literature. Some models included attitude toward the web site dimension in the same level with user satisfaction. Therefore, the research model suggested these two variables play mediator roles on the effect of system quality on net benefit. A structural equation model is used to analyze this model. It is statistically proved that attitude toward the web site and user satisfaction play mediator roles on the effect of system quality on net benefit.

Twelve Years in the Life of Airline Websites

Perhaps no innovation in history has affected marketing management as pervasively as has the advent of e-commerce. This revolutionary new channel has required businesses to acquire an entirely new set of skills and approaches to promotion, pricing, and distribution. The necessity for e-commerce website operators to more deeply understand consumer behavior when engaged in e-commerce has become a central and crucial factor in website success or failure. As predicted nearly 20 years ago, travel bookings have moved almost entirely to the World Wide Web (WWW). For the past 12 years, data have been collected concerning traveler’s preferences, concerns, and perceptions of airline websites in particular. This research reviews and comments on the evolution of those sites and consumer perceptions of efficiency, ease of use, and usefulness. The results of this study are intended to guide airlines in their pursuit of customer satisfaction and increased profits.

STEP model approach for linking website usability dimensions and website success measures in B2C e-commerce setting

The study proposes STEP model of B2C e-commerce success by relating website usability dimensions and success measures. Questionnaire survey method is used to collect data from selected respondents N = 415 with respect to seven dimensions identified after literature review. Findings indicate that usability dimensions have differential impact on success measures. For instance, the trust construct impacts all success measures, whereas propriety of content impacts only perceived usefulness. STEP model's fit statistics indicate a good model fit. Findings and implications of these are discussed.

Variations in internet self-reporting of infertility success statistics in California infertility practices

Objective: To compare association of procedure volume and success rates on the publication of infertility success rates on individual infertility provider websites. Design: Retrospective cohort study Setting: The internet. Patients: None. Interventions: All websites listed on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website reporting on vitro fertilization were examined for the presence or absence of information on the success rates of the infertility procedures at each practice Main Outcome Measures: Presence of any information on infertility procedure success rates as a dichotomous variable. Results: Of the 62 practices listed in the CDC database 34 (55%) of practices (n=34) self-published any infertility success data. 23 (37%) practices listed pregnancy rates and live birth rates per transfer or retrieval, 19 (30%) practices listed pregnancy rate per cycle, and 9 (14%) practices listed live birth rates per cycle. Total number of fresh non-donor cycles performed per year was significantly associated with publication of success rates (odds ratio 2.25 (1.33-3.82) per 100 cycle increase). There was no statistical association with practices with live birth rates per cycle success rates and internet self-reporting of success rates p=.99). Conclusions: Significant variation in infertility provider's internet self-reporting of success rates is present in this sample. There was statistical association found between total number of fresh non-donor cycles and publication of website success information. Understanding the biases within sources of website information helps educate infertility patients about important and costly treatment decisions.

An explorative study of shopper-based salient e-servicescape attributes: A Means-End Chain approach

This study aims to address the gaps inherent in existing studies by exploring the salient e-servicescape attributes. Employing the Means-End Chain (MEC) approach, empirical evidence was obtained through in-depth interviews with online shoppers using laddering technique to determine the most frequently mentioned attributes from four servicescape dimensions: (1) ambient; (2) design; (3) signs, symbols and artifacts; and (4) interaction. Accordingly, we laddered three levels of online shoppers’ responses from concrete to less concrete abstractions, i.e. attributes, benefits, and end-desirable beliefs. As a result, seven salient e-servicescape attributes were identified. Each of the four dimensions suggests the attributes’ linkage to benefits and end-desirable beliefs. Specifically, the study finds quality photograph, as the salient attribute of the ambient dimension, may set the point of initial attraction and move shoppers from understanding the product to linking the web site contents. In the design dimension, navigation bar, categorization, and simple arrangement are the salient attributes. Company logo represents the most salient attribute under the signs, symbols and artifacts dimension because it not only facilitates recognition and recall of prominent web sites, it also acts as the determinant of perceived risks. In the interaction dimension, although pricing information is the salient attribute that evokes happiness and confidence among online shoppers, it may dilute their perception on web site's success. Instead, confirmation mail can possibly act as a determinant to web site's success. By offering a finer granularity of information, our findings provide insights to online sellers on the salient attributes to consider in order to effectively promote their shopping web sites to create positive emotional response and buying behavior among the online shoppers.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Source Credibility Theory Applied to Logo and Website Design for Heightened Credibility and Consumer Trust

Websites are often the first or only interaction a consumer has with a firm in modern commerce. Because consumers tend to make decisions within the first few seconds of online interaction, the first impression given to users can greatly determine a website's success. Leveraging source credibility theory, a strategy is presented for building credibility derived from a user's initial impressions of a website, in online environments. The study demonstrates that logos designed to communicate traits of credibility (i.e., expertise and trustworthiness) can trigger positive credibility judgments about the firm's website and that this increase in perceived credibility results in greater trust and willingness to transact with the firm. In addition, the study demonstrates distinct effects on consumers’ distrusting beliefs. The positive trust effects are magnified when the design of a website extends and complements the credibility-based logo design. This practice-supporting model further indicates how website designers can methodically design logos and websites that nonverbally communicate credibility information within the first few moments of a website interaction. [Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction to view the free supplemental file: Online Appendix A.]

Website quality in government

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to investigate how webmasters within government bodies explain quality of websites. Despite the central position for advancing the communication, bridging usability tests and design, there are surprisingly few studies on how webmasters perceive, experience and explain website quality or design issues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors' unit of analysis is webmasters from Norwegian web‐award‐winning organizations. Eight webmasters from four types of websites were interviewed. The websites were purposefully sampled, using the strategy of maximal variation sampling to maximize difference between the four types of websites.FindingsThe findings reveal that issues concerning usability are found to be an important dimension of website quality. The authors' analysis of how webmasters explain website quality reveals substantial variance in explanation of website quality. Repeated keywords of website quality are mainly related to user‐friendliness, effective website usage, content‐related issues and accessibility (WAI‐principles).Research limitations/implicationsThis study includes webmasters from award‐winning websites. In upcoming research contributions, it would add to the richness of the study if webmasters from non‐award‐winning websites were included. Measurement of website quality and success is widely addressed within the research literature. This paper offers the opportunity to understand how practitioners (i.e. webmasters) facilitate for website quality, grounded in their perception and explanations of which quality aspects they found to be of importance.Practical implicationsThe website quality aspects identified in this paper can be used as insights for how to develop and improve the quality of websites with the public sector.Social implicationsThe overall digital enabled transformation of government appears to be guided by a rather heterogeneous set of quality standards. While a variance of quality standards might stimulate innovation in websites, it can also lead to a substantial difference in digital services provided to citizens. Thus, the authors' research stimulates the awareness of diversity of quality parameters and could have as an implication that national and international standards beyond accessibility standards are more explicitly shared and debated.Originality/valueThe aim of this paper is to provide insights into website practitioners' (i.e. webmasters') perception and explanation of quality aspects in websites. Webmasters are important contributors to the quality of available websites, and it is of particular benefit to learn about their suggestions. Most studies tackle perception of website quality from a user's point of view, while the added knowledge in this paper is the webmaster's explanation.

Website success comparison in the context of e-recruitment: An analytic network process (ANP) approach

This study investigates relative importance of website success factors in selecting the most preferred website. To identify relative importance of website success factors and to rank alternative websites with respect to success factors, Updated Delone and McLean Information System Success Model is extended through applying an analytic network process (ANP) approach. A field study with 383 academic internet users was performed. Relative importance of each website success factor with respect to their influence on using the e-recruitment website, and user satisfaction are identified. Furthermore relative significance of using the e-recruitment website and user satisfaction in achieving positive benefits are discovered. This study also found the relative preference of each website with respect to different success variable.Results indicate that ANP is an effective tool to provide an accurate solution for interdependencies that are able to affect the decision to be made for network like models. The findings of this study provide decision makers of e-commerce companies with useful insights to compare the preference of their website with others with respect to different success variables. Moreover, relative significance of different success variables in websites can be compared.

Examining the critical success factors of mobile website adoption

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the critical success factors of mobile web site adoption.Design/methodology/approachBased on the valid responses collected from a questionnaire survey, the structural equation modelling technique was employed to examine the research model.FindingsThe results indicate that system quality is the main factor affecting perceived ease of use, whereas information quality is the main factor affecting perceived usefulness. Service quality has significant effects on trust and perceived ease of use. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust determine user satisfaction.Practical implicationsMobile service providers need to improve the system quality, information quality and service quality of mobile web sites to enhance user satisfaction.Originality/valuePrevious research has mainly focused on e‐commerce web site success and seldom examined the factors affecting mobile web site success. This research fills the gap. The research draws on information systems success theory, the technology acceptance model and trust theory as the theoretical bases.

User–based website design in tourism with a special focus on web 2.0 websites

Information systems literature calls for websites providing a site architecture that is as close as possible to the mental model of the user. To assure that users will be satisfied, website designers need to be aware that users interpret elements offered on a website based on their physiological and psychological factors. Creating a compelling online experience for diverse groups of e-customers is a challenge and of utmost importance for a website's success. However, in the field of tourism literature that discriminates between requirements based on motivational or cognitive aspects of certain user-groups is scarce. Therefore, the hypothesis examined in this dissertation is that there are differences between a priori defined user-groups regarding their satisfaction with web 2.0 websites. Further, this research is aimed at not only taking the demand side into account but also the supply side by asking whether the supply side is aware of the increasing importance of web 2.0 contents and its potentials for information presentation and market research. To bring the project into a coherent framework three more aspects are tackled. First, due to the fact that there is no existing typology for travel-blogs this dissertation tries to fill this gap by means of a qualitative approach. Second, an alternative, more parsimonious measurement approach for website performance is proposed. Finally, a study on measuring emotional mental models, a topic which seems to be neglected in information systems literature as well as in the field of tourism, is included. In order to investigate all these issues nine empirical studies are conducted. The approaches used include online surveys, content analysis, and quasi-experimental design. For data analysis methods such as Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, Covariance Based Structural Equation Modeling, and Artificial Neural Network Analysis are applied. The results indicate that there are differences between a priori defined user groups regarding their satisfaction with web 2.0 websites. For instance, the influence of motivational factors on the importance of website features differs between travelers who seek relaxation and those who seek adventure. Moreover, the main drivers for value and satisfaction for a goal-directed search are content quality followed by usefulness. These effects are attenuated for the experiential search. The study focusing on communication modes suggests that for verbalizers content is most essential while for visualizers the most important aspect is design. A further study, investigating the influence of hotel guest reviews on customer hotel preferences, reveals that in certain instances the subjects' willingness to pay is significantly higher than their reference price. Additionally, the findings indicate that people who read consumer reviews online do not belong to only one homogeneous group but perceive the importance of review categories differently. Pertaining to the supply side findings show that managers in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland assess user generated content as highly important and that managers have a rather positive attitude towards negative reviews. However, there is evidence that hotels and museums are not seizing opportunities the Internet provides in terms of information presentation. Concerning the formative measurement developed for website performance cross validation proved that the index works well. The last study sheds light on measuring emotional models and gives insights into changes of users' emotional mental models before and after their visitation of a virtual world. The final chapter Discussion and conclusions critically discusses the results of the nine studies from a theoretical point of view, debates the approaches used and methods applied, and gives managerial implications and suggestions for future research. (author's abstract)