B2C Ecommerce Web Site Quality: an Empirical Examination Cao, et al

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B2C E-commerce Web Site Quality an Empirical
Examination (Cao, et al)

• Article overview presented by
• Karen Bray
• Emilie Martin
• Trung (John) Nguyen
• Kenneth C. Brawley

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Agenda

• Introduction

2. Literature Review
3. Conceptual Framework
4. Methodology and Results
5. Implications and Limitations
6. Conclusion
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Introduction

• What constitutes web site quality or what makes
  a website effective?
• This question must be answered before
  implementing an e-commerce portal.
• Decision makers need guidelines for developing
  their e-commerce presence.

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Introduction

• Previous studies on web-site quality
• Focused on basic content management
• Evaluation of quality of information
• Relevance
• Multi-media use
• And on function
• Evaluation of search engines
• Waiting and response times
• Interface design

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Introduction

• Factors for web site quality and factors that
  affect customers perceptions are unclear.
• Empirical studies have been only exploratory in
  nature.
• Current research focuses on the following
• Information quality
• System quality
• Service quality
• Attractiveness

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Introduction

• Goal of this research
• Identify those variables that capture e-commerce
  web site quality and to develop measures
  empirically evaluate them.

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Literature Review

• TAM (Technology Acceptance Model)
• Model for predicting system acceptance by users.
• Also, diagnoses design problems before
  implementation.
• Model bases user acceptance on
• Perceived usefulness
• Perceived ease of use

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Literature Review

• The TAM model is intended to provide an
  explanation for the factors which determine
  computer acceptance.
• Capable of explaining user behavior across a wide
  range of end-user computer technologies.
• TAM is applicable to the current study in that
  e-commerce web sites are a form of computer
  technology

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Literature Review

• IS (information systems) Success Model
• IS success model involves 6 dimensions, which
  only seem to include the systems aspect and not
  the human interaction aspect
• Systems quality
• Information quality
• Use
• User satisfaction
• Individual impact
• Organizational impact

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Literature Review

• IS Model and SERVQUAL (service quality)
• Incorporates IS model and SERVQUAL to include
  human interaction
• SERVQUAL Dimensions
• Reliability
• Responsiveness
• Assurance
• Empathy
• Tangibles

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Literature Review

• The IS / SERVQUAL model measures the gap between
  what is expected and what is delivered.
• In the e-commerce context, service quality is
  considered to cover assurance, reliability,
  empathy, while systems quality addresses
  tangibles responsiveness.

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Conceptual Framework

• Authors believe that system quality can be
  addressed via system quality, information
  quality, service quality and attractiveness

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Conceptual Framework

• System quality measures the functionality of a
  web site, i.e. usability, availability and
  response time.
• Search facility
• Responsiveness
• Multi-media capability

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Conceptual Framework

• Information quality captures the e-commerce
  content issues. Providing information is the
  basic goal of a web site. Content is represented
  by information accuracy and relevance.
• Information Accuracy
• Information Relevance

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Conceptual Framework

• Service quality measures the overall support
  delivered by the web site. It includes trust and
  empathy, i.e. the web site should be secure and
  personalized.
• Trust
• Empathy

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Conceptual Framework

• Attractiveness consists of the issues of whether
  web pages are fun to read and subjectively
  pleasing.
• Playfulness

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Methodology Results

• The authors used the following experiment
• A survey was conducted to measure the four
  theorized components of website quality.
• 71 students at ASU submitted 213 usable
  questionaires.
• Each student was required to rate the website
  with a scale of 1 7.

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Methodology Results

• Requirements while visiting the website
• Go to the site and explore it first
• View books
• Select a specific book that is desired
• Add the chosen book to their shopping cart
• View the contents of their shopping cart

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Methodology Results

• Results of the survey

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Methodology Results

• Significant findings of the survey (how websites
  should be designed)
• Provide accurate information
• Reduce loading and searching time
• Make searching easier
• Site should also be appealing in design

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Implications Limitations

• Web site quality can be a management tool because
  customers have positive and negative perceptions
  about websites.
• In order to be effective, a website must have
• Good content
• Good service

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Implications Limitations

• Guidelines for web interface design
• Capability of hardware
• Focus customers perceptions
• Enhance trust from a technological perspective

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• Guidelines for web interface design (cont)
• Evaluate existing similar sites
• Compare design alternatives
• Use usability measures/metrics
• 4. Check for conformance

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Implications Limitations

• Limitations of the study
• The questionnaire is self-reported by
  respondents the researchers intentions were
  obvious.
• The sample may be biased as it includes students
  only from one university.
• Finally, the sample book sites are few in number.

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Conclusion

• This paper identifies a set of factors capturing
  the quality of an e-commerce web site.
• A set of reliable instruments for web site
  quality has been developed and empirically
  validated.
• These factors have significant practical meaning
  for e-commerce web designers and web managers.

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• Thank You!