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B2C e‐commerce web site quality: an empirical examination

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DOI: 10.1108/02635570510600000 · Source: DBLP

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Industrial Management & Data Systems
Emerald Article: B2C e-commerce web site quality: an empirical examination
Mei Cao, Qingyu Zhang, John Seydel

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To cite this document: Mei Cao, Qingyu Zhang, John Seydel, (2005),"B2C e-commerce web site quality: an empirical examination",
Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 105 Iss: 5 pp. 645 - 661
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B2C e-commerce
B2C e-commerce web site quality: web site quality
an empirical examination
Mei Cao, Qingyu Zhang and John Seydel
Department of Computer and Information Technology, 645
Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA

Abstract
Purpose – To identify what constitutes web site quality or what makes a web site effective.
Design/methodology/approach – This article examines and integrates four sets of factors that
capture e-commerce web site quality using an IS success model: system quality, information quality,
service quality, and attractiveness. A questionnaire survey was conducted to verify the measures of
web site quality. Based on TAM, a framework is also developed relating web site quality to customers’
beliefs (perceived usefulness and ease of use), attitudes (preferences for the site), and intentions (to
revisit the site).
Findings – A set of instruments of web site quality has been developed and empirically validated by
factor analysis.
Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a sample of students browsing
several book web sites and they may not sense the web site quality across different B2C commercial
web sites such as music, computer, travel, clothes and flowers. Data in these domains should be
collected in any future research to examine further the measures developed here.
Practical implications – Guidelines for web interface design are proposed.
Originality/value – This paper fulfils the identification of web site quality and the development and
validation of its measures and offers a framework and practical guidelines for e-commerce managers
and web designers.
Keywords Electronic commerce, SERVQUAL, Research
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Web sites are being widely deployed commercially (Liu and Arnett, 2000; Robbins and
Stylianou, 2003). Ample anecdotal evidence suggests the internet is an effective tool for
commercial purposes (Huizingh, 2000). However, just doing online business does not
guarantee competitive advantages. E-commerce firms depend on people visiting their
sites, purchasing their products, and, more importantly, becoming repeat customers
(Smith and Merchant, 2001). At the same time, customers have many web sites that
they can use as alternatives. There are almost no barriers to switching to other web
sites if performance is unacceptable (Bhatti et al., 2000). The question is “What
constitutes web site quality or what makes a web site effective?” Without answering
this question we are likely to continue floundering, wasting time and money creating
some sites that are winners and many that are losers. Business decision makers need to
know some guidelines for developing their e-commerce presences.
Previous studies on web site quality have generally focused either on basic content Industrial Management & Data
management or on specific sets of web site functions. In analyzing web content, some Systems
Vol. 105 No. 5, 2005
researchers have evaluated the quality of online information (Bhatti et al., 2000; pp. 645-661
Gullikson et al., 1999), the relevance of information (Perkowitz and Etzioni, 1999), and q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-5577
the use of multi-media elements (Huizingh, 2000). Regarding functionality, there are DOI 10.1108/02635570510600000
IMDS evaluations of various search engines (Thelwall, 2000), waiting time (Weinberg, 2000),
105,5 response time (Lin and Lu, 2000), and interface design (Slatin, 2001; Roy et al., 2001;
Wen et al., 2001). A few investigators have also looked at the capability for and level of
customer feedback (Light and Wakeman, 2001). It is often difficult to define what gives
a web site that extra something that keeps people coming back for more (Pollard and
Blyth, 1999; Hoffman and Novak, 1995). Berthon et al. (1996) call for research to reveal
646 the true nature and effectiveness of electronic commerce.
What composes web site quality and the factors that affect customers’ perceptions
on the acceptance of the site are unclear (Lin and Lu, 2000; Dhyani et al., 2002).
Empirical research focusing on success factors of web sites has typically been
exploratory in nature (Liu and Arnett, 2000). While many factors are associated with
e-commerce web site success, little knowledge exists about the combination of these
factors (Liu and Arnett, 2000). So, it is appropriate to assess factors that an e-commerce
web site must have in order to attract and keep potential customers (Smith and
Merchant, 2001). Using the IS success model in the context of B2C e-commerce, this
research explores the following factors: information quality, system quality, service
quality and attractiveness.
While certain aspects of page/site design might seem intuitive (e.g. contrast and
load time), other concepts may not be so straightforward and still others have yet to be
identified. Hence, an empirical study is essential for the development and validation of
a conceptual framework and their measures. The goal of this research is to identify
those variables that capture e-commerce web site quality and to develop measures and
empirically validate them. First, the literature on technology acceptance model (TAM)
and IS success model (including SERVQUAL) is reviewed. Second, a framework is
developed relating four essential factors of web site quality to customers’ perceptions,
preferences and intentions. Third, a set of instruments of web quality is developed and
empirically verified by factor analysis. Finally, managerial implications and guidelines
for web interface design are discussed.

Literature review
As e-commerce is a relatively new concept, no particular body of literature specifically
addresses the concept of e-commerce web site quality. However, design principles as
well as metrics for predicting and/or evaluating effectiveness may be gleaned from two
relatively well-established areas of research. These areas address the TAM and IS
success model including SERVQUAL.

TAM
The TAM of Davis (1989) is widely cited as a means for predicting system acceptance
and for diagnosing design problems before users experience the system. TAM predicts
that user acceptance of any system is determined by two factors:
(1) perceived usefulness; and
(2) perceived ease of use.
Perceived usefulness is defined, as the degree to which a person believes that use of the
system will enhance his or her performance. Perceived ease of use is defined, as the
degree to which a person believes that use of the system will be free from difficulty.
 Since Davis’s introduction of TAM, numerous researchers have discovered that B2C e-commerce
TAM consistently explains much of the variance in why users use/accept systems. web site quality
TAM is an adaptation of theory of reasoned action (TRA) specifically tailored for
modeling user acceptance of IS. It is intended to provide an explanation of the
determinants of computer acceptance. In addition, TAM is intended to be capable of
explaining user behavior across a range of end-user computing technologies while at
the same time being parsimonious and theoretically justified. Therefore, TAM should 647
be applicable to the study of user acceptance of e-commerce web sites because these
constitute a class of IT projects. In fact, studies involving the application of TAM
theory, along with its refinements/extensions to web site acceptance, are accumulating
(Eighmey and McCord, 1998; Fink and Kobsa, 2000; Karahanna and Straub, 1999; Liu
and Arnett, 2000; Mathieson et al., 2001; Tractinsky and Rao, 2001).

IS success model and SERVQUAL

Among the various studies addressing IS success factors, those involving the dimensions
suggested by Delone and McLean (1992, 2003) have received the most attention. Having
surveyed 180 articles, Delone and McLean (1992) proposed six major dimensions of IS
success: systems quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact
and organizational impact. However, these six dimensions seem to include only the
system aspect of IS success and overlook the human interaction aspect (Li, 1997). This
deficiency can be overcome by the addition of the factors of service quality.
Service quality is commonly defined as how well a delivered service level matches
customer expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Parasuraman et al. (1985) identified ten
dimensions of service quality, and these dimensions were subsequently consolidated into
five (i.e. reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles), which now comprise
the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman et al., 1988). The SERVQUAL instrument
assesses the gap between what is expected and what is delivered. Pitt et al. (1995) suggest
that SERVQUAL is an appropriate instrument for measuring the service quality of the IS
function. They note that most IS effectiveness measures focus on the products rather than
the services, and IS effectiveness will be mismeasured if IS service quality is not included.
Numerous other researchers now agree that service quality measures should be part of IS
success assessment (Kettinger and Lee, 1995; Li, 1997; Delone and McLean, 2003).
Van Dyke et al. (1997), however question the application of SERVQUAL to IS
service quality. Issues include the use of difference scores to measure the expectation
gap, the unstable dimensionality of the SERVQUAL factors and the difficulty of using
a single instrument across industries. It is suggested that, in terms of its psychometric
characteristics, an instrument for service perception is better than that for the
difference score of the perception-minus-expectation. Van Dyke et al. conclude that it is
preferable to use a perceptions-only method.
The SERVQUAL instrument has been tested in IS contexts (Kettinger and Lee,
1995; Pitt et al., 1995). The dimension of tangibles addresses up-to-date hardware and
software, reliability focuses on dependability, responsiveness measures the
promptness of the service to the users, assurance addresses the knowledge to do the
job well and empathy considers whether IS has users’ best interest at heart. Since
service quality overlaps systems quality, in the e-commerce context, service quality
can be considered to cover assurance, reliability and empathy, while systems quality
addresses tangibles and responsiveness.
IMDS Under e-commerce context, the reliability dimension of SERVQUAL can also be
105,5 explained/replaced by the critical concept of trust. Trust is crucial in the transactional,
buyer-seller relationships of customers and e-vendor because of the risk and
uncertainty of the online environment (Reichheld and Schefter, 2000; Mayer et al.,
1995). Trust is an expectation that the e-vendor will not behave opportunistically by
taking advantage of the situation (Gefen et al., 2003). It is customers’ beliefs that the
648 e-vendors will behave in a reliable/dependable, ethical and socially appropriate manner
(Hosmer, 1995; Zucker, 1986).
Trust is defined as the subjective probability that customers believe that an
organization’s underlying technology infrastructure and control mechanisms are
capable of supporting transactions (Pavlou, 2001). Pavlou (2001) holds that the digital
economy encourages the creation of institutional provisions to support and guarantee
transactions among entities that lack the traditional face-to-face context. There are
many structural, trust-building assurances provided by the vendor, such as
certification, HTTPS, guarantees, agreements and policies. Such trust provides
favorable impersonal conditions conducive to transactional success (Zucker, 1986).
Gefen et al. (2003) hold that trust is a critical aspect of e-commerce because of the
absence of proven guarantees that the e-vendor will not engage in opportunistic
behaviors such as unfair pricing, conveying inaccurate information, violations of
privacy and unauthorized use of credit card information.

Conceptual framework
Web site quality is important and widely studied in the e-commerce literature
(Aladwani and Palvia, 2002; Koufaris, 2002; Soliman and Youssef, 2003). Liu and
Arnett (2000) derive a framework from IS and marketing literature. They identify four
factors that are critical to web site success in e-commerce: information quality, system
use, playfulness and system design quality. Barnes and Vidgen (2001) contend that
WebQual should be used to evaluate a web site from a customer’s point of view. We
think that, from a customer’s perspective, web site quality can be addressed via four
components: functionality, content, service and attractiveness.
Figure 1 illustrates the framework being developed to relate web site quality to
customers’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and further to customers’

Figure 1.
A framework for
evaluating E-commerce
web site quality
preference and intention to reuse the site. The framework is built upon TAM, B2C e-commerce
SERVQUAL and the concept of trust (Delone and McLean, 1992; Parasuraman et al., web site quality
1985; Davis, 1989; Lin and Lu, 2000; Chen et al., 2002). The customers’ perceptions of a
web site are considered by applying TAM (Davis, 1989). TAM indicates that perceived
usefulness and ease of use will influence an individual’s attitude and intention to use a
web site, and customers’ beliefs (i.e. perceived usefulness and ease of use) are affected
by web site quality (Davis, 1989; Eighmey and McCord, 1998; Liu and Arnett, 2000; Lin 649
and Lu, 2000; Chen et al., 2002).
There are many discussions on beliefs, attitudes and intentions based on TAM (i.e.
the dotted-line box in Figure 1). For further discussion, please see Davis (1989); Lederer
et al. (2000); Chen et al. (2002) and Lin and Lu (2000). This paper only focuses on the
identification and validation of the dimensions that capture web site quality. Based on
the previous literature review, four factors are identified: system quality, information
quality, service quality and attractiveness. Web site quality may also depend on the
types of web sites, e.g. music, book, travel, computer, clothes and flowers (perishable
goods) (Liang et al., 2004; Kuo et al., 2004). Further, marketing channel types, incentive
programs, transaction cost and even the generic strategy of the organization (i.e. focus,
differentiation, or cost) may also complicate the users’ perceptions of web site quality.
However, this paper focuses on the quality of common and standard user interface in
e-commerce sites that may be generalizable across different industries (Liu et al., 2003;
Hsu et al., 2004; Kim and Kim, 2004).

System quality
System quality measures the functionality of a web site: usability, availability and
response time (DeLone and McLean, 2003). Smith and Merchant (2001) find that online
customers are very particular about having a web site easy to read, as well as easy to
navigate. A responsive web site proves to be highly important to end-users (Robbins
and Stylianou, 2003). Weinberg (2000) emphasizes that a page design should consider
not only appearance but also loading time. Specifically the system quality of a web site
can be assessed by search facility, responsiveness and multi-media capability.
Search facility. Search facility reflects the extent to which a tool or structure actually
helps a web site user to find information as perceived by the user (Huizingh, 2000). One
of the problems in web site design, whereby web site users lose track of the context and
are unsure of how to proceed, is called the navigation problem (Levene, 2001). For
example, participants in a study report that they are disconcerted in cases where they
have to scroll to locate the selection and add an item to the shopping cart (Bhatti et al.,
2000).
So, navigation tools should help users to maintain a mental map of where they are,
and how various sections/pages are related to each other. Tools for navigation include:
menus, directories, frames, buttons, site maps, subject trees, a search engine, image
maps and colors (Clyde, 2000). It is helpful to have a site map that web site users can
use to see the layout of the site and maneuver around it (Hudson et al., 2000). Some of
the web sites are large and this makes it difficult to find all the information on a specific
subject. One way to mitigate this problem is to include a search engine on the site
(Clyde, 2000).
Responsiveness. Responsiveness is defined as the willingness to help online
customers. It can be measured by the time taken before replying to a customer’s
IMDS inquiries (Watson et al., 1998). Advances in the internet and computer technology leave
105,5 little excuse for any delay in responding (Wan, 2000). Wan (2000) considers the issue of
responsiveness can be seen in at least two ways: load time and search time. Search time
mostly relies on the size of the database. Many pages are designed with being aware of
the load time problems and have small pictorial illustrations. Amazon.com puts a sign
of text-only on its homepage.
650 One of the e-commerce challenges on the web is when users experience intolerably
long waits for a web site’s page to load. When the loading time exceeds the time that a
web user is willing to wait, the web user will either redirect the web-browser to another
web site or quit using the web (Weinberg, 2000). Researchers have studied the
significance of waiting time in service evaluations (Roslow et al., 1992). Schleifer and
Amick (1989) report that system response time is inversely related to computer user
satisfaction. Weinberg (2000) concludes, in terms of waiting time on the internet, that it
is best if the homepage loads relatively fast, and that efforts toward achieving this
result will be rewarded.
Multi-media capability. Multi-media capability refers to the non-verbal cues or
features about the product and services that enhance the customer’s feeling of
preference for a web site. Graphics, video clips, audio clips and animation used to
demonstrate products are examples of these features. These features can fulfill
individual information needs, engender trust, and facilitate better learning experience
(Chen, 2001). Non-text elements also enhance communication by helping visitors find
or interpret the information presented. On the other hand, more multi-media enabled
content takes more time to download. Designers must find a balance between an
attractive design and providing information; this is not always easy (Huizingh, 2000).
It is probably not a good idea to go overboard with elaborate graphics, which add no
more information. People may use the same site frequently. Graphics that may appear
impressive when they are first seen and quickly become very tiresome when they have
been viewed many times before (Hudson et al., 2000).

Information quality
Information quality captures the e-commerce content issues. “Content is king” is a
well-known slogan (Huizingh, 2000). Providing information is the basic goal of a web
site (Bhatti et al., 2000). Deciding what content to place on a web site is extremely
important. The reasoning stands that the target audience a company wants to attract
drive the site content (Day, 1997; Iyer, 2001). Lin and Lu (2000) address the issue of how
customers’ acceptance is affected by the features and accurate information. Huizingh
(2000) distinguishes content from design and operationalize both concepts by using
objective and subjective measures to capture features as well as perceptions. Perkowitz
and Etzioni (1999) explore the importance of updated information with the notion of
adaptive web sites. Content is represented by two constructs: information accuracy and
relevance.
Information accuracy. The most fundamental capability of a web site is the
presentation of information about products, services, people, events or ideas. By
providing the inappropriate information on the site, companies can endanger their
precious business images. It is, thus, imperative for companies to extend their
attentions to the possible factors to enhance the information quality (Lin and Lu, 2000).
The information on the web site should be accurate, informative and updated. The
extent to which the information is accurate determines, among others, whether the B2C e-commerce
promise is fulfilled. In Ducoffe (1996) terminology, it is the informativeness that web site quality
matters. Updated information means both updating existing content and adding new
content to the site. For example, amazon.com states, in its side bar, that its list of 100
hot books is updated hourly.
Information relevance. Information relevance refers to the extent to which the
information on the web site is related to the information needs of the customer. It is 651
unlikely that a company wants to provide the same information to different groups of
customers (Huizingh, 2000). Different parts of the web site should be designed to meet
the needs of different group of customers. The potential customers of the web site
should be identified and their needs are investigated (Clyde, 2000). Thus the needs of
customers, as well as the subject coverage, have guided the development of different
sections of the web site. For example, the content of an automaker’s web site should
include information related to its branches in different regions or countries and
different models and features. In addition, a web site represents an ongoing
commitment. It has to be monitored and tended carefully, in the light of new
developments in the company. If this does not happen, the site will become less and
less relevant to the customers’ needs (Clyde, 2000).

Service quality
Service quality is an important dimension of IS success in the e-commerce environment
where customer service is crucial (DeLone and McLean, 2003). Bhatti et al. (2000)
present experiments designed to estimate customers’ tolerance of quality of service in
the context of e-commerce. Service quality measures the overall support delivered by
the web site. It includes trust and empathy. That is, the web site should be secure and
personalized (Loiacono et al., 2002).
Trust. Trust refers to the extent to which customers believe the web site is legal,
ethical and credible and is able to protect their privacy (Wan, 2000). According to a
survey conducted by the European Electronic Messaging Association, more than 79
percent of respondents said that reliability is the top concern of e-commerce customers
(Shankar, 1996). Once users perceive that reliability has been compromised, no
purchase will be made. It is therefore crucial for systems designers to understand the
effect of cumulative frustration, especially as it is typically in the later stages of
interaction that users are likely to commit to a purchase (Bhatti et al., 2000).
Empathy. Empathy refers to the extent to which a web site provides caring,
individualized information and attention to customers. Empathy is the presence of
response mechanisms for improving the communication quality of web sites. The
nature of this dimension purports that two-way communication must exist. Features
included in this dimension are e-mail, chat rooms, bulletin boards and mailing lists
(Chen, 2001).
The concept of empathy involves the exchange of individualized messages
regardless of distance or time. The internet is well suited in this regard where users can
virtually visit any web site at any time and from any place. E-commerce is an
interactive function between customers and business enterprises (Bakos, 1991). Web
site users must be able to specify their needs; the site should produce the desired
response (Light and Wakeman, 2001). For example, the supplier and customer may
need to interact several times before all details of the order are agreed (Huizingh, 2000).
IMDS Attractiveness
105,5 Attractiveness consists of the issues of whether web pages are fun to read and
subjectively pleasing. Watson et al. (1998) coin the concept of “attractors”. They use the
metaphors to label/group sites into different potential attractors (e.g. entertainment
park, archive and club). They argue the overall appeal is a key component of web site
quality. No matter how well the content is or how reliable and easy to search the web
652 site is, if users do not find the site appealing, they are not going to spend much time
there (Smith and Merchant, 2001). Chen (2001) examines the playfulness and how it
affects the quality of web site design. His finding suggests that playfulness is an
influential factor to attract customers.
Playfulness. Playfulness includes the devices that attract the attention of web site
users with enjoyable constructs. Online games, software downloads and Q&A are
examples of these devices (Chen, 2001). Embedding playful features within the web site
not only differentiates a site from others, but also enhances the user’s perceived level of
satisfaction (Eighmey, 1997). Watson et al. (1998) also suggests that online users seek
gratification in escape, entertainment and interaction. This suggests that there is a
need for web designers to cultivate pleasure in site design by motivating customers to
participate, promoting customer excitement and concentration, and including
charming features to attract customers and to help them enjoy the visit (Liu and
Arnett, 2000). This will lead to increased customer activities (Schmidt, 1996).

Methodology
Measures/metrics are the sine qua non of solid, scientific research (Straub et al., 2002).
In an effort to test empirically the suggested measures of web site quality, it is
important to find a real-world application domain. We choose online bookstores as the
application domain and students as users because many students buy books using the
internet. Buying books over the internet is one of the early e-commerce applications
that have matured to become relatively stable (Barnes and Vidgen, 2001) and online
bookings have consistently shown a higher growth rate than most other online
markets (Joergensen and Blythe, 2003). The bookstores chosen are amazon.com,
biggerbooks.com and half.com. Students are mainly sophomore and junior who were
taking the introductory computer applications class at the college level and are familiar
with the internet. They are asked to assess the three web sites and then complete the
survey.
Because we focus our interest on e-commerce web site design, we select participants
who match a profile of internet shoppers (students). It is essential that a homogeneous
group of users be selected because users with different amounts of knowledge and
experience of web shopping have different expectations of web site (Bouch and Sasse,
1999). The participants were given the same task series so that their path through the
site was consistent. Participants were required to:
(1) go to the site and explore it first;
(2) view books;
(3) select a specific book that you want;
(4) add the chosen book to their shopping cart; and
(5) view the contents of their shopping cart.
Respondents are asked to rate their perceptions of each of the sites using 1 to 7 scale B2C e-commerce
which the anchor for 1 was “strongly disagree” and for 7 “strongly agree”. In all, 213 web site quality
completed and usable questionnaires were received from 71 students, each of who
evaluated the three web sites. The body of responses came from a range of university
degrees. The characteristics of respondents are 54 percent female and 46 percent male;
age 32 percent less than 20, 64 percent 20-30, 2 percent 30-40 and 2 percent more than
40; 4 percent married and 96 percent unmarried; income 68 percent less than 10K, 20 653
percent 10-20K, 11 percent 20-50K, and 1 percent greater than 50K.

Results analysis
Items were purified as recommended by Churchill (1979) by examining the corrected
item to total correlation (CITC) of each item with respect to its specific component in
the construct. As a general rule, items with a CITC score of lower than 0.50 were
removed. Then the items (Table I) were submitted to exploratory factor analysis to
check for factorial structures. Factor loadings greater than 0.50 are considered
significant (Hair et al., 1995). To streamline the final results, factor cross-loadings
below 0.4 were not reported. The results are shown in Table I.
Seven factors emerge from the factor analysis with most factor loadings above 0.60.
All items load on their respective factors except the construct of information relevance.
It seems that information accuracy and information relevance are closely related to
customers. Thus these two constructs load as one construct of information quality. The
cumulative variance explained by all seven factors is 73.9 percent. After purification
and factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to assess reliability (Table I).
Alpha values greater than 0.80 are good for basic research (Nunnally, 1978). All the
alphas are more than 0.80 except the construct of empathy, which is 0.71. Thus, this set
of instruments is reliable.
The means and standard deviations for each item are shown in Table I. From the
results of these three web sites, the highest three constructs are information accuracy,
responsiveness and search facility. Two items of the trust construct (i.e. being secure
and being reliable) and two items of the attractiveness construct (i.e. being appealing
and promoting excitement) have high rating scores. The factor analysis results indicate
that e-commerce web sites should be designed to provide accurate information, reduce
loading and searching time, make searching easier, and make the site secure because
customers are most concerned with finding accurate information, searching fast and
placing order securely. A quality web site should also be designed appealing.

Implications and limitations

Managerial implications
Customers’ perceptions of e-commerce web site quality highlight web site design as a
managerial tool. Based on these web site quality guidelines, a company might predict
the visit/purchase likelihood for customers and can then decide on targeted
communications or promotions (e.g. pop-up advertisements).
An attractive e-commerce web site starts with good content. The information
provided in the web site has to be accurate, informative, updated and relevant to
customers’ needs. A good site not only contains sufficient information but also is
user-friendly. The site should have a search facility help users to maintain a mental
 654
105,5
IMDS

Table I.

means, standard
deviations, factor
E-Commerce web site

loadings and reliabilities

quality constructs, items,
Factor loadings
Constructs Items
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 a

System quality
Multimedia
capability The web site uses audio elements properly 4.12 1.32 0.809 0.80
The web site uses video elements properly 4.39 1.34 0.735
The web site uses animations/graphics properly 4.74 1.17 0.668
The web site uses multimedia features properly 4.69 1.40 0.638
Search facility There is a clear indication of site’s content 5.46 1.30 0.786 0.95
The web site has well-organized hyperlinks 5.28 1.21 0.804
The structure of the site is logical to me 5.26 1.30 0.785
Navigating the web site is easy 5.35 1.27 0.800
The web site has explanation of how to use site 4.94 1.29 0.673
I feel that is easy to find information on the web site 5.34 1.27 0.723
Responsiveness The response time of the web site is proper 5.41 1.24 0.779 0.94
The searching is fast on the web site 5.40 1.20 0.773
The searching time is reasonable 5.40 1.17 0.746
The loading time is reasonable 5.30 1.25 0.688
The web site is responsive to my inquiries 5.27 1.21 0.520
Information quality
Information
accuracy The web site provides useful information 5.16 1.19 0.756 0.94
The web site provides accurate information 5.17 1.16 0.741
The web site is informative 5.12 1.18 0.740
The web site provides updated information 5.02 1.19 0.760
The web site provides high quality information 5.22 1.21 0.637
The web site provides timely information 5.00 1.26 0.631
Information
relevance The information on the web site is relevant to me 5.19 1.33 0.546
I can find what I need in the web site 4.68 1.39 0.572
(continued)
 Factor loadings
Constructs Items
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 a

The web site provides relevant information 4.98 1.36 0.561

Service quality
Empathy The web site has interactive feedback mechanism between
customer and business 4.73 1.56 0.661 0.71
The web site has personalized information 5.25 1.42 0.640
The web site has empathy with customers’ problems 4.67 1.53 0.580
The web site is very concerned about my welfare 4.51 1.57 0.711
Trust I feel protected/safe when I use the site 4.99 1.46 0.835 0.96
The web site is secure 5.06 1.42 0.830
The web site is reliable 5.07 1.43 0.809
I trust the web site will not misuse my personal information 4.73 1.59 0.759
The web site conveys a sense of competencies 4.88 1.34 0.757
The web site satisfies ethics standards 4.92 1.38 0.760
The web site is sure to solve my problem 4.76 1.34 0.727
I feel very confident about the site 4.89 1.48 0.738
Attractiveness
Playfulness The web site is attractive/appealing 5.16 1.32 0.640 0.92
The web site promotes customer excitement 5.15 1.32 0.675
The web site motivates customers to feel participation 4.83 1.33 0.732
The web site provides attractors such as online
games/cartoons 4.81 1.30 0.723
The web site is fun 4.25 1.40 0.758
The web site is entertaining 4.21 1.35 0.753
Eigenvalue 6.99 5.54 5.37 4.19 3.87 2.81 2.29
Percent of variance 16.6 13.2 12.8 10.0 9.2 6.7 5.4
Cumulative percent
of variance 16.6 29.8 42.6 52.6 61.8 68.5 73.9
B2C e-commerce
web site quality

655

Table I.
IMDS map of the site, provide for two-way communication between users and the site, and
105,5 respond quickly to users’ search and browsing needs.
A web site needs to provide good service to customers. Not only does it need to
protect purchasers ethically and legally (i.e. trust), but it also needs to provide caring
(i.e. empathy) and individualized information and attention to customers. Using click
stream tracking to log customer activities on web sites can facilitate online
656 personalization. A superior e-commerce web site also has an emotional dimension,
attractiveness, which provides a human touch and is a significant factor in attracting
visitors to the site.
The attributes of e-commerce web site quality identified here can be easily
generalized to B2B contexts. In particular, information quality, system quality and
service quality of a web site will still play an important role in affecting an industrial
customer’s perceptions. However, the attribute of attractiveness may be less critical in
the B2B context, but should be examined further in future research.

Practical guidelines for web interface design

In designing an e-commerce web site, one should consider not only the software
component, but also the capability of the hardware. A web user is likely to redirect the
web-browser to the homepage of another web site (e.g. a competitor’s) if the homepage
that he/she tries to access has not fully loaded within a tolerable length of time. For this
reason, Clyde (2000) suggests the online pages have been kept simple, with limited use
of graphics. But this is conflicting with the multimedia information requirements, and
also limiting the advancement of true two-way communication (Banks, 1997).
Therefore, besides using simple graphics, the speed and memories of the hardware
holding the site also need to be considered.
In designing an e-commerce web site, a more effective approach, which has been
used in a limited way on the web, is to focus on customers’ perceptions of a web site
(Katz et al., 1991; Weinberg, 2000). The physical design elements (i.e. type of
information, links, layout, appearance, etc.) are important but insufficient; it is the
customers’ perception of a web site makes differences. For example, if a web user
perceives the loading time of a site to be intolerable, then the web user will direct the
web-browser elsewhere; and potentially, not purchase any of the products. Instead, in
circumstances where feedback is provided, the tolerance of delay is significantly higher
(e.g. an icon that indicates the proportion of information that has been loaded appears
near the bottom of a web-browser).
Since the trading partner trust is difficult to create for online B2C customers, the
web designer/managers should actively create an environment to enhance trust from a
technological perspective. E-commerce vendor should adhere to technical standards,
security procedures and protection mechanisms that are conducive to supporting
transactions. Trust can be enhanced by such mechanisms as digital signatures,
encryptions, authorizations and best business practices (Pavlou, 2001). Such
mechanisms can facilitate customers’ confident expectations toward a favorable
outcome of the transactions in regards to the uncertainty of the underlying technology
infrastructure.
In summary, for web site developers and managers, the following steps can be
followed:
 (1) evaluating the existing similar sites to gain insight into the behavior of a B2C e-commerce
system and its users; web site quality
(2) compare design alternatives to determine the most efficient interface layout or
the best representation;
(3) use usability measures/metrics developed in the article so that usability goals
can be specified quantitatively and competing alternatives can be compared;
and 657
(4) check for conformance to interface style standards with proper design
techniques.

Limitations
Owing to the exploratory nature of the study, it has some limitations. First, the
questionnaire is self-reported by respondents, so it has potential problems of demand
effects (i.e. respondents guess the researchers’ intention) or less motivation for
thoughtful response (Liu et al., 2003). Second, the sample may be biased as it includes
students only and from one university. Third, the sample book sites are relatively
small.
Finally, the respondents are asked to view several book sites, so they may not sense
the web site quality across the different commercial B2C web sites such as travel,
music, computer, tickets, clothes and even perishable goods (e.g. flowers). Although the
paper captures the quality of standard web sites’ interfaces, the nature of specific
products (e.g. clothes, flowers) may be a contributing factor for determining each
component of web site quality: information quality, system quality, service quality and
attractiveness. Future studies should collect new data including specific products’
feature on different web sites to validate measures developed here. Inclusion of other
variable such as marketing channel types, incentive programs, transaction cost and
organizational strategy will provide more insight into this phenomenon.

Conclusions
Based on the TAM theory, IS success model, SERVQUAL and trust concept, this paper
identifies and pools together a set of factors capturing the quality of an e-commerce
web site, which in turn affects customers’ perceptions, preferences and intentions. A set
of reliable instruments for web site quality has been developed and empirically
validated. These factors and instruments have significant practical meaning for
e-commerce web designers and web managers.

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