No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Influence of Perceived Quality of Official University Websites to Perceived Quality of University Education and Enrollment Intention
Abstract
This chapter aims to analyze the impact of a university's website quality to the intentions of prospective students to enroll at the university. The proposed model was tested by distributing questionnaires to third-year senior high school students around Jakarta. Respondents were asked to follow a series of instructions to access the websites of two universities, the University of Muhammadiyah Malang and the Indonesian Islamic University. After completing the task, respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate website quality. Based on the analysis of 117 valid questionnaires, it is concluded that website quality influences the perception by prospective university students of quality university education, which subsequently affects the intention of prospective students to enroll at the university. The finding confirms that the quality of official websites can be used as an extrinsic attribute to signal the quality of education at the university; thus, its optimal maintenance must be endeavoured.
... Prospective students have to make sure that the university's service quality fits their expectation, especially considering the type of education service where it is long term and customers cannot easily change their university. Poor website service quality can create a perception that the university's education service quality is also poor (Hidayanto, Rofalina, & Handayani, 2015). ...
Today's internet technology has been utilized in various fields, one of which is to provide services in the field of education. Internet technology in the form of website enables organizations to provide anywhere anytime services to their customers, thus it is expected increasing customers' satisfaction. This research aims to develop a service design framework that can be used to evaluate the quality of website service at the university and formulate solutions for its improvement, by combining E-SERVQUAL, Kano Model, and Quality Function Deployment (QFD). To demonstrate the use of the proposed framework, we conducted a case study in one of the private universities in Palembang, Indonesia. Step by step of the framework usage is discussed, to provide a better understanding of the framework we are proposing.
... According to Hidayanto, Rofalina & Handayani (2015) "First, the quality of university website can serve as a signal of university education"s quality. Secondly, the perceived quality of university education, which is based on signaling theory, eventually influences the enrollment intention of prospective students to the university. ...
div>
Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has very crucial role in our higher education. According to Distance Education Bureau, UGC; approx. 23.50% of the total higher education enrolment comes from distance education but this mode has been facing few major challenges since the time of its inception. ‘Distance’ is the biggest challenge for ODL. Distance educators have been trying to overcome this issue with the help of technology. ICT is the most appropriate solution. The interactive nature of this technology can minimize the impact of ‘distance’. Website is one of the most important tool of ICT. This study talks about the priorities and expectations of ODL mass communication students from the Websites of their Institutions. The paper highlights the different characteristics and features of an effective website from the ODL learners’ point of view .
</div
Üniversiteler web siteleri aracılığıyla, öğrenciler ve diğer ilgili paydaşlarla iletişim halinde olmaktadırlar. Ayrıca gelişen teknolojiyle birlikte, sosyal medya kavramının ortaya çıkması, yeni sosyal ağların oluşumunu tetiklemiştir. Üniversiteler de kendi resmi hesaplarını bu sosyal ağlarda açarak, iletişim süreçlerini yürütmeye başlamışlardır. Bu çalışmada Atatürk Üniversitesinin web sitesi kalitesine ve sosyal medya hesaplarının yönetimine dair öğrenci algıları ölçülmüş olup, bu değişkenlerin memnuniyet üzerindeki etkisi araştırılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini, Atatürk Üniversitesinin farklı programlarında öğrenim gören 578 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Anket uygulaması sonucu elde edilen veriler, SPSS 22 istatistik programında analiz edilmiştir. Katılımcıların frekans dağılımları incelenmiş, güvenilirlik testleri ile çoklu regresyon analizleri yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, üniversite web sitesi kalitesi ve sosyal medya hesaplarının yönetiminin öğrenci memnuniyeti üzerinde etkisinin olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır.
This experiment examines interactivity and vividness in commercial web sites. We expected increased levels of interactivity and vividness would lead to more positive attitudes toward web sites, stronger feelings of telepresence, and greater attitude—behavior consistency. In addition, we expected increased levels of vividness to lead to the development of more enduring attitudes toward the site. Participants explored four web sites. Increases in interactivity and vividness were associated with increased feelings of telepresence. In addition, increases in vividness were associated with more positive and more enduring attitudes toward the web site. Implications for new media researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Despite the critical need to know how consumers' perceptions of Web sites influence their behavior, and especially their intention to revisit or purchase, there is no extant general measure for evaluating Web sites and no consensus on what such an instrument should measure. The authors used the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Technology Acceptance Model to develop the WebQual instrument for consumer evaluation of Web sites. They refined it through a literature review and interviews with Web designers and users, and tested it using four samples of Web consumers. WebQual includes 12 dimensions (informational fit-to-task, tailored information, trust, response time, ease of understanding, intuitive operations, visual appeal, innovativeness, emotional appeal, consistent image, on-line completeness, relative advantage) and shows strong measurement validity. It is a highly validated instrument that can provide both wide- and fine-grained measurements of organizational Web sites.
The purpose of this research is to analyze the service quality of property websites in Indonesia in order to help website owners in evaluating their websites. The service quality of the websites is measured by adapting the SERVQUAL method which measures the gap between visitor’s expectation and satisfaction. SERVQUAL in this study was constructed by adapting Web Quality Factors. In addition, considering the unique condition of Indonesia and the various technological advancements, we aim to formulate important features of property websites in Indonesia by asking the respondents to rate the importance of each feature. We circulated questionnaires to property exhibition events in Jakarta and received 101 valid questionnaires from 204 respondents. The results showed that respondents considered the service quality of the websites to still be under their expectations in all SERVQUAL dimensions which include reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy, and responsiveness. Furthermore, we successfully identified significant features of property websites and extracted important characteristics for developing countries' context. Some of which are currently unavailable in the Indonesian property information provider websites.
Navigation using web pages began about ten years ago in scientific and academic circles. This technology later became available to the rest of society in general and to the commercial world in particular, but the pioneers of the web were researchers and university teachers. Today, however, commercial websites offer a great variety of services, while the majority of university websites only offer conventional information, in many cases incomplete and frequently incorrect. This paper describes some of the services we consider of interest for a university website and analyses some of the factors institutions should take into account in order to convert their web pages into an authentic 'website'. The fundamental ideas of this paper are based on our experience with the official website of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Informática de Granada, which we have maintained since 1996.
Purpose
This research extends Mehrabian and Russell's Stimulus‐Organism‐Response model to include both external (i.e. reputation) and internal source of information (i.e. website quality) as stimuli which affect consumers' response systems. The purpose of this paper is to test a more comprehensive model consisting of reputation and website quality (stimuli), cognition and emotion (organism) and purchase intention (response).
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 219 usable questionnaires were obtained at a large Midwestern university through online survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for data analyses.
Findings
Reputation had a significant positive effect on consumers' emotion and significant negative effect on perceived risk. All four website quality dimensions had significant negative effects on perceived risk and significant positive effects on emotion, except for customer service. Perceived risk had a significant negative effect on consumers' emotion, and both perceived risk and emotion had a significant impact on purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
This research employed convenience sampling, which resulted in a majority of female respondents. The results may be generalized to a limited extent.
Originality/value
This study allows for empirical examination of the different effects of various components of retail websites on emotion, perceived risk and behavioral intentions. This research will add value to the related literature by filling the void of previous research and also will provide practical implications for online retailers on designing and maintaining positive consumer response. Strength of the research lies in its ecological validity, since respondents were not simply all reacting to the same single stimulus.
The aim of this study is to explain the main factors affecting behavioural intentions of students to regularly use university websites in the future. Universities are investing millions of dollars in developing high quality websites as they believe that this course of action can provide them with significant strategic benefits. Notwithstanding, little is known about what attracts students to regularly use university websites and our understanding in this context is by no means complete. Aiming to advance our knowledge in this domain, this study utilises a novel model that is developed on the basis of three well-established theories in the field of information systems: technology acceptance model, the motivational model, and Delone and Mclean information systems success model. In total, 311 survey questionnaires suitable for data analysis were collected from undergraduate students with majors in IS/IT related disciplines at a large university in Jordan and were then analysed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that information quality is the main predictor of perceived usefulness, whereas system quality is the main predictor of perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, although behavioural beliefs were all found to determine behavioural intentions, perceived usefulness exerts the strongest effect.
Since Agenda 21 and the United Nations' Decade for Education for Sustainable Development published, higher education institutions have been recognized as playing a critical role in shifting our society's awareness toward sustainable development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the degree to which universities in Australia have committed to declarations on sustainability by incorporating goals for sustainable development in their vision, mission and graduate attribute statements. Content analysis using QSR NVivo 9 software was used to examine the public websites of Australia's 39 universities. In particular, the research examined whether keywords related to higher education for sustainable development were espoused in vision, mission and graduate attribute statements at the university-level and business faculty/school-level of the organization. The research identified that while many Australian universities publicly endorsed goals and values related to sustainability, the commitment was not reflected in the vision, mission and graduate attributes of business faculties/schools within the same institution. It is argued that if a commitment to higher education for sustainable development is not (at least) endorsed as a publicly espoused value at multiple levels of a university, then the organization's commitment to ensuring sustainable development is enacted at strategic and operational levels of the organization may be questioned. The exploratory study provides a foundation for future research to examine good practice models of how organizations embed sustainable development in the policy-to-practice nexus in higher education.
As Internet shopping gradually moves from a novelty to a routine way of shopping, the quality of the Internet sites will play an important role in differentiating sites. Internet shopping sites must be of high quality to attract consumers and influence their shopping decisions. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a psychometrically rigorous instrument to measure the perceived quality of an Internet shopping site (i.e., SITEQUAL). Candidate items were generated based mainly on consumers' own descriptions. Multiple methods and samples produced a 9-item scale of SITEQUAL, which consists of four dimensions. This scale can be used to evaluate the quality of Internet shopping sites and examine how site quality affects visitors' online behavior, such as search patterns, site patronization, and buying decisions.
The paper presents WebQual™, a Web site quality measure with 12 dimensions. Development was based on an extensive literature review, and interviews with Web designers and Web visitors. The instrument was refined using two successive samples, and the validity of the final instrument was tested with a third confirmatory sample.
The objective of this study was to examine the effects of image interactivity technology (IIT) features and an individual difference, experimenting with appearance (EA), on consumers’ shopping enjoyment, risk perception, and attitude toward an online retailer. We conducted a between-participant experimental study using a convenience sample of college students. A total of 206 participants provided usable responses for structural equation modeling analysis. The results showed that the level of IIT and EA positively affected shopping enjoyment as well as decreased perceived risk toward the online retailer. In turn, shopping enjoyment and perceived risk significantly influenced the consumers’ attitude toward the online retailer, as hypothesized. The findings of the study suggest that e-commerce business for online apparel retailers may continuously need to develop richer IIT features (innovative yet playful) to meet consumers’ demand and secure consumers’ loyalty.
In recent years, the attention that the European Community has focused on the education sector has produced
a new university commitment addressed to quality aspects for all education related services. In
fact, a quality oriented service requires excellence in the design and planning of service activities, as well
as during its delivering and also for the adopted service performance evaluation method. However, considering
that service performance evaluations are deeply based on stakeholders’ judgments, they can be
characterized by possible uncertainties related to incompleteness for partial ignorance, imprecision for
subjectivity and even vagueness. Therefore, under these conditions, unreliable results can be obtained
by widely considered service analysis methods. In the present paper, a method based on a recent extension
of the ServQual model and that uses in combined manner the Fuzzy Set Theory and the Analytic
Hierarchy Process method is proposed to effectively handle uncertainty in service performance analyses.
In particular, the Fuzzy Set Theory is considered to deal with such uncertainty, whereas the AHP method
is adopted as tool to estimate the importance weights of the strategic service attributes. Subsequently,
the strategic analysis of the service value tree related to the Management Engineering program at the
University of Palermo (Italy) is performed by using the proposed method. The performed service analysis
allows the most influencing service performance factors to be captured and commented upon. Finally, the
obtained results show that the professors’ perception of service quality meaningfully influences the overall
service performance level.
The growing popularity of the Internet has resulted in exciting opportunities for companies to reach out for customers with very little additional costs. In order to communicate with the potential customers through WWW effectively, a well-designed Web page is needed. Yet, the factors that affect customer's perception about the acceptance of a Web site are unclear. This paper addresses why users accept or reject a Web site and how user's acceptance is affected by the features (i.e. information quality of a Web site, response time and system accessibility) provided by a Web site. A study with 139 users of a Web site was conducted to test the hypothesised model. The results showed that the technology acceptance model (TAM) fully mediated the usage behaviour even in the Internet environment, accounting for 64% of the variance in usage. Furthermore, response time of a Web site is an important factor in affecting the user's beliefs of such a Web site. This showed that Web page providers not only have to make the content informative and timely, but they also need to design a speedy Web page by not putting in unnecessary pictorial data as it might jeopardise the display time.
In order to solve the problem of B2C E-commerce website quality evaluation, the paper establishes an evaluation method based on Analytic Hierarchy Process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Firstly, the paper describes the importance of website quality and builds a quality evaluation indexs system. Secondly, it determines indexs weight by using Analytic Hierarchy Process. Thirdly, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to establish the B2C website quality evaluation model. Finally, according to questionnaires, the paper use the model to evaluate two B2C websites in Guangxi province, the case studies not only prove the rationality and scientificity of the evaluation model, but also put forward some proposals of website development.
In this article, the authors examine the circumstances in which brand names convey information about unobservable quality. They argue that a brand name can convey unobservable quality credibly when false claims will result in intolerable economic losses, These losses can occur for two reasons: (1) losses of reputation or sunk investments and (2) losses of future profits that occur whether or not the brand has a reputation. The authors test this assertion in the context of the emerging practice of brand alliances. Results from several studies are supportive of the premise and suggest that, when evaluating a product that has an important unobservable attribute, consumers' quality perceptions are enhanced when a brand is allied with a second brand that is perceived to be vulnerable to consumer sanctions. The authors discuss the theoretical and substantive implications for the area of brand management.
Marketing universals are defined as consumer behaviors within a segment and toward a particular product category that are invariant across cultures. Using several definitions of culture and three different criteria for universality, the authors evaluate whether the use of brand, price, retailer reputation, and physical product appearance as signals of quality are marketing universals for consumer electronics products. Using a sample representing 38 nationalities, they find that there are few differences in the use of quality signals across cultures for a high priority segment of consumers. They draw conclusions for the adaptation versus standardization debate and argue that certain behaviors are likely to be universal, whereas others are not. Understanding such differences is essential to designing international marketing strategies.
The purpose of this paper is to distinguish the impacts of e-commerce on marketing and operations functions and investigate how these impacts have affected performance of Taiwanese SMEs. We also investigate the moderating roles of size and e-commerce experience of SMEs on the e-commerce impact–performance relationship. We have used resource-based-view of a firm to provide the theoretical underpinning to understand how e-commerce adoption is linked to firm performance. We have conducted a survey and obtained 110 usable responses from Taiwanese SMEs. We first verified our variables to check they get grouped to marketing and operations effects using confirmatory factor analysis. We then identified their influence on performance using regression. Finally, we verified the roles of size and e-commerce experience using moderated regression analysis. Our results show that operations and marketing aspects of e-commerce have strong impacts on performance of SMEs. Size of SMEs, measured using number of employees, moderates the impacts of operations and marketing aspects on performance, while e-commerce experience, measured using the length of time SMEs have adopted e-commerce, does not moderate. Our results will help SMEs in general and Taiwanese SMEs in particular to understand the influence of e-commerce on their performance.
According to the quality signaling theory, firms are motivated to invest more advertising in high-quality products. This paper conducts an experiment through a closed-ended double-bounded dichotomous choice of the contingent valuation method to measure consumer willingness-to-pay for a fictitious cell phone market of varying quality before and after advertising. The results show that advertising effectively influences consumer awareness of perceived quality and enhance their WTP. The results also suggest that even though the high- and low-quality products differ in the investment of advertising, the effect of advertising on the increase in consumer WTP for low-quality products as well as for high-quality products.
This study examines the asymmetric effects of convention attribute performance on attendee satisfaction (AS) from the perspective of three-factor theory through impact range-performance analysis and impact-asymmetry analysis. This approach enables classification and prioritization of convention attributes as frustrators, dissatisfiers, hybrids, satisfiers, and delighters for the effective management of AS. Moreover, this approach allows assessment of each attribute's range of impact on AS. Through these methods, researchers/practitioners are able to easily pinpoint areas of concern for performance improvement. Findings are to offer industry practitioners insights into prioritizing attributes and effectively addressing AS.
Explores the richness of meaning that has grown up around the service concept in the management literature. Examines the subtleties which arise when "service" is used to denote industries, outcomes and processes, and explores more specific service concepts, such as the quality of service encounters and service experiences. Concludes that many of the concept's ambiguities relate to the use of the word "service" and shifts of meaning which result. Indicates that there are clear dichotomies between providers' and customers' views of "service". Parallel dichotomies can be found between the delivery and consumption of "core services" and the emotional/hedonic dimensions of service performance. Discusses the importance of these and suggests ideas for the marketing and management of services. In addition, develops a broad structural framework with which these ideas can be linked and identifies a number of new avenues of research.
High prices are often quoted as an obstacle to consumer purchase of organic food products. This article investigates the market performance of organic food products at different price levels and whether high price is necessarily a disadvantage for organic food products, especially with regard to generating repeat purchase. Based on analyses of panel purchase data from 2011 in Denmark, the study explores the effects of production method (organic vs. conventional) and price on consumers’ repeat purchase and cross-purchase across four product categories: red meat, chicken, milk and hard cheese. Results show that a high price is a disadvantage for generating repeat purchase of organic food products. Although organic products enjoy higher repeat purchase than conventional products overall, a high price generates less repeat purchase of organic products than a low or a medium price in all product categories; whereas in the case of conventional food products the situation is the reverse. At the same time, the cross-purchase analysis reveals that consumers who buy organic products from the high price tier are less likely to switch to other price tiers than consumers who buy low or medium price organic products (i.e. there is a spillover of high price organic food purchases to other product categories). Implications for pricing strategies for organic food products are discussed.
The rise of social media has facilitated consumer social interactions. Many product-focused online social platforms have included design features that can convey more information about product quality as well as the credibility of the members of the social community. Drawing on information signaling theory, we empirically examine how the two social information cues frequently found on online social communities, action-based social information (i.e., peer consumer purchase) and opinion-based social information (i.e., peer consumer review), influence consumer purchase decisions. We also explore the moderating role of consumer characteristics, consumer engagement and consumer expertise. Analyzing panel data (n = 39897) collected from a popular online beauty community, we found that consumer purchase decisions are indeed influenced by the two social information cues and that action-based social information is more influential than opinion-based social information. Furthermore, our results show that both consumer engagement and consumer expertise play an important moderating role in consumer purchase decisions, albeit in opposite direction: Whereas consumer engagement exerts a positive moderating effect, consumer expertise is found to have a negative moderating effect. This study contributes to existing literature by providing an evaluation on the signaling role of online social community features in consumer purchase decisions. The results offer important and interesting insights to IS research and practice.
The paper compares casino service quality evaluations, customer satisfaction and loyalty between casino members and nonmembers, and investigates the relationships among these variables. In particular, the study examines a mediation relationship by proposing that customer satisfaction intervenes between casino service quality and customer loyalty. The investigation is undertaken at six Macau casinos that provide membership to customers. The results show that customers without holding any membership have higher evaluations of casino service quality; nevertheless, casino members tend to choose the casino which they hold membership with as their first choice. The mediation testing indicates that including customer satisfaction in the model increases the variance in customer loyalty only in the case of casino members. Finally, each casino service quality dimension has different effect on gambler satisfaction and loyalty. The research yields insights into customer loyalty research. Strategic implications are provided for the literature as well as casino practitioners.
Much recent effort has been put into developing effective electronic markets. However, the research has mainly focused on institutional trust-building mechanisms. Practically, sellers lack guidelines in shaping competitive edges in electronic markets where institutional mechanisms have been applied to all sellers. In order to fill this gap, we examine the impacts of institutional and social mechanisms on seller differentiation, drawing from quality signaling theories in economics. Hierarchical regression analysis of the objective data crawled from TaoBao.com reveals these two competing categories of quality signal mechanisms result in interesting seller differentiation. Findings, implications and future research are discussed.
The present study was an effort to explore the direct and indirect impacts (mediated through retailer loyalty) of retailer awareness, retailer association and retailer perceived quality on purchase intention. Seven hypotheses were developed with relevant literature support. The hypotheses were tested with primary data (n=355) collected through structured questionnaire using systematic sampling from food retail shoppers of age 18 years and above in Kolkata, a metropolitan city of India. Structural equation modeling statistical technique was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that retailer awareness, retailer association, retailer perceived quality and retailer loyalty have positive impacts on purchase intention. Results also found that the indirect impacts (mediated though retailer loyalty) of retailer awareness, retailer association and retailer perceived quality on purchase intention are stronger than the direct ones. Academic and managerial implications are further discussed.
Key design properties of marketing artifacts that influence consumer response include perceived attractiveness (the valenced evaluative response to the artifact) and perceived strength (the artifact’s ability to capture attention). The aesthetic middle principle contends that the designs most effective in generating purchase intentions are counterintuitively not the most attractive and strongest, but rather designs tempered to be moderately attractive and very strong or very attractive and moderately strong. Such designs are visual representations closer to the aesthetic middle, thereby prompting more favorable consumer responses. This research empirically tests the aesthetic middle principle in two consumer field studies, using both simple (typeface) and complex (wine package) designs. In a subsequent controlled experiment, the strongest aesthetic middle effects emerge for hedonic (rather than utilitarian) products and when less product-related information is available. The effects of the aesthetic middle occur regardless of available cognitive resources or individual differences in design acumen.
We present two studies examining daily deal websites. In the first, we see whether revealing deal size influences choice, and consider the effect of desire for conformity/uniqueness. In the second, we determine the impact discounting levels have on quality perceptions and purchase likelihood, while considering the influence of brand familiarity and offer type. We find the bandwagon/snob effect can influence purchase likelihood. The results also suggest that heavy discounts have a negative impact on quality perceptions, and that brand familiarity and offer type may affect quality perceptions and purchase likelihood. Retailers seeking brand exposure should act cautiously regarding discount levels, and exclusive brands may not be suitable.
This study concerns the service quality topic in the retail bank sector. A sample of 209 retail bank clients was taken, measuring the performance of service quality attributes of their principle retail bank. Behavioral performance variables such as satisfaction, loyalty and customer perceived value were also measured. In a factor analyses the attributes were separated into three factors. These three independent factors explain a considerable amount of variability of a satisfaction–loyalty factor. On the other hand, they could not explain the superior perceived value; and no differences between the service quality performances of the bank brands were found. In conclusion, regardless of the degree of satisfaction and loyalty, the customer is not willing to pay more for banking services at his regular bank than he would at other brands. This implies that superior perceived value is not being achieved via service quality, which suggests a lack of differentiation between brands in this sector.
Design quality of websites is known to have a positive impact on user attention. Although there are lots of papers that investigate design qualities of websites in the literature, none of them takes into account interactions among design characteristics. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the perceived design quality of websites while considering the interactions among design characteristics. For this purpose, a new approach named the quality evaluation model (QuEM), which includes fuzzy set theory, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method (DEMATEL), and generalized Choquet integral techniques, is proposed. The critical design characteristics of websites are determined based on interactions among them by using DEMATEL. Then, the degrees of importance are utilized in the generalized Choquet integral to evaluate the perceived design quality of website designs. Fuzzy set theory is utilized to cope with ambiguity in the linguistic evaluation of the different design characteristics and supports the analysis of the collected data. Finally, the proposed method is applied for the evaluation of the quality of the most used shopping websites in Turkey.
This study explores the role and interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic cues when evaluating fish quality and in shaping consumers’ attitudes toward fish consumption. A sensory analysis of nine different fish including five variants of barramundi was conducted to determine how consumers evaluated the fish on intrinsic cues. Focus groups were then conducted to explore the impact of extrinsic cues on attitudes and purchase intentions. While the sensory analysis revealed distinct differences between barramundi variants on intrinsic cues (notably taste), the focus groups revealed that, as a brand, barramundi is perceived much more favourably and consistently. Consumers used extrinsic cues, particularly country of origin, as surrogate indicators of quality. Aquaculture producers need to ensure intrinsic product quality and consistency, as while consumers use the extrinsic cue of “Australian grown” as a surrogate indicator of quality, as their familiarity and confidence with seafood grows, this overreliance on extrinsic cues may diminish.
The purposes of this study are to examine whether perceived playfulness and perceived flow would mediate the relationships among website quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intention, as well as to assess the degree of reciprocity between perceived playfulness and perceived flow in an online travel agency context. This study suggested a research framework for testing the relationships among the constructs based on the stimulus-organism-response framework. In addition, this study developed a non-recursive model. After validating the measurement scales, empirical analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling. The findings confirm that website quality affects customers’ perceived playfulness and perceived flow, and in turn, would influence their satisfaction and purchase intention. Notably, this study finds that the service quality is more important than information and system quality in influencing customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Furthermore, the study reveals that the relationship between perceived playfulness and perceived flow is reciprocal. Based on the findings, the implications are discussed in the paper and directions for future research are also highlighted.
The study investigates the mediating effect of website quality on Internet searching behavior. The research model incorporates three dimensions, namely (1) Internet attitudes of the Internet users, (2) website quality, including the system quality, service quality and information quality, and (3) Internet searching behavior demonstrated by the general population of Internet users. A survey instrument was used to gather data to exam the relationships in the proposed model. The collected online surveys (n = 856) are used to test the relationships among the three dimensions expressed in the proposed structural equation model. The results show that website quality has a mediating effect on Internet searching behavior. It is also discovered that there is significant correlation between Internet attitudes and website quality. This study contributes empirical data to the predominantly theoretical literature on Internet searching behavior in general and Internet attitudes and website quality in particular. It is, to a certain extent, common sense that website quality has a positive impact on Internet searching behavior. This paper takes an important step forward by detailing how website quality affects the Internet searching behavior via enhancing the effect of users’ Internet attitudes.
The web-based product catalog is a central element of online retailing. Although the extant research has studied the effect of design elements, such as product presentation, recommendation agents, and image and text on consumer choice, little is known about how Internet vendors could distribute products in a multi-page online product catalog for better performance. It is well-known that the first page of an online product catalog is particularly important to a vendor. Based on price signaling literature and cue consistency theory, this study investigates how price and product popularity cues could be carefully designed for the first page to achieve better sale performance. This study suggests there is a delicate balance point where price cues and popularity cues can achieve consistency and synergy and lead to better page value perceptions for the first page. The boosted page value perceptions, in turn, lead to better sales from the first page. This study extends the theory of cue consistency to the product group level.
An e-business environment results in information asymmetry because buyers cannot physically evaluate the quality of products and easily assess the trustworthiness of sellers. Product and seller quality are communicated through website signals. Using signaling theory, we developed a three-dimensional framework to classify website signals. We empirically tested the framework with a comparative content analysis of websites from a sample of online pharmacies. We found that low-quality sellers were likely to avoid costly and easy-to-verify signals and used fewer signals than did high-quality sellers, who used costly and difficult-to-verify signals and displayed more signals. These results provide information to online buyers and regulatory institutions in charge of online retailer evaluation.
Web site interactivity creates numerous opportunities for marketers to persuade online consumers and receives extensive attention in the marketing literature. However, research on cognitive and behavioral responses to web site interactivity is scarce, and more importantly, it does not provide empirical evidence for how interactivity effects can be explained. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the underlying principle that explains the influence of web site. interactivity on consumers' cognitive, affective and behavioral responses: online flow, the web site users' complete immersion in an online activity (Hoffman and Novak 2009). In two studies, the hypothesis was tested that a visitor's flow experience in a specific brand web site mediates the effects of interactivity on the number and type (web site vs. product related) of thoughts, on attitudes toward the brand and web site, and on several behavioral intentions. The results provide evidence for the importance of flow in a marketing context, and the notion that the flow experienced on a specific web site is the underlying mechanism by which cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral responses to an interactive brand web site can be explained.
Marketers increasingly use brand popularity statements in attempts to influence consumers’ purchase decisions. Through the use of two experiments this research finds that a brand's popularity statement exerts a greater positive influence on the purchase intentions of consumers who possess less favorable instrumental attitudes toward the associated act (i.e. useless/foolish/harmful) than on purchase intentions of those consumers who have more favorable instrumental attitudes toward the act (i.e. useful/wise/beneficial). Further, this research also finds that a popularity statement for a brand of which society generally has a less favorable instrumental attitude toward the associated act (e.g. fast food consumption) has a larger positive influence on consumers’ purchase intent than does a popularity statement for a brand of which society generally has a more favorable instrumental attitude toward the associated act (e.g. dining at a casual theme restaurant). These findings suggest that brand popularity statements should be targeted at those consumers who might possess less favorable attitude toward the associated act or can be most effective in sectors in which consumer sentiment is generally low (e.g. the fast food sector).
This paper extends prior research on consumer knowledge beliefs and word-of-mouth transmission. Findings from four studies suggest that people compensate for unfavorable discrepancies between their actual and ideal consumer knowledge with heightened efforts to signal knowledgeability through the content and volume of their word-of-mouth transmissions. This compensatory knowledge signaling effect is moderated by the self-concept relevance (psychological closeness) of the word-of-mouth target and lay beliefs in the self-enhancement benefits of transmitting product knowledge. Content analysis of participants’ product communications further supports our knowledge signaling account. The relationship between actual:ideal knowledge discrepancies and heightened word-of-mouth intentions is mediated by the specific negative emotion associated with actual:ideal self-discrepancies. Overall, the findings suggest that the relationship between consumer knowledge and word-of-mouth transmission depends not only on what you think you know, but also on what you wish you knew.
Product quality as perceived by consumers is studied with the use of empirical survey data on wooden flooring/panelling materials and on wooden furniture markets in Finland. The results indicate that consumers’ quality perceptions are consistent for the two product categories. Perceived product quality may be understood as a hierarchical structure, which consists of tangible and intangible dimensions, and is fairly consistent for different products. The most abstract dimensions are reflected in more specific sub-dimensions and product attributes. For consumers, the quality of the tangible product is more important than the quality of the product intangibles in the case of wooden products. Perceived product value is determined as customers’ judgement of the relationship between perceived product quality and price. It was also observed to be a two-dimensional structure with tangible and intangible dimensions. The observed dimensions of perceived product quality and value were logically linked.
Always low price (ALP) and low price guarantee (LPG) are store-price signals that retailers frequently use to induce favorable store-price image and discourage consumers from comparing prices across stores. Although both policies signal low prices, only LPG is an obligatory promise to beat rival stores’ prices. Results of two shopping simulations show that when consumer search costs are relatively low, ALP may effectively discourage consumer search whereas LPG may trigger more search. Paradoxically, consumers tend to evaluate ALP stores less favorably (as having lower integrity and higher self-serving intention) than LPG stores even when both signals appear to be credible. These findings suggest that LPG is a superior tactic for creating a favorable store image while ALP is more effective for discouraging consumer search. The results also indicate that consumers visit fewer stores when the LPG is not a credible signal of lowest market price than when it is credible. This is because consumers are inclined to either claim discounts or refunds at the non-credible LPG store or to purchase at the competing store with a lower price rather than continue searching.
