University of Maryland, R. H. Smith School of Business, Decision and Information Technologies, 4348 Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland 20742-1871.
Web sites provide the key interface for consumer use of the Internet. This research reports on a series of three studies that develop and validate Web site usability, design and performance metrics, including download delay, navigability, site content, interactivity, and responsiveness. The performance metric that was developed includes the subconstructs user satisfaction, the likelihood of return, and the frequency of use. Data was collected in 1997, 1999, and 2000 from corporate Web sites via three methods, namely, a jury, third-party ratings, and a software agent. Significant associations between Web site design elements and Web site performance indicate that the constructs demonstrate good nomological validity. Together, the three studies provide a set of measures with acceptable validity and reliability. The findings also suggest lack of significant common methods biases across the jury-collected data, third-party data, and agent-collected data. Results suggest that Web site success is a first-order construct. Moreover, Web site success is significantly associated with Web site download delay (speed of access and display rate within the Web site, navigation (organization, arrangement, layout, and sequencing), content (amount and variety of product information), interactivity (customization and interactivity), and responsiveness (feedback options and FAQs).
The Quick Response (QR) program is a hierarchical suite of information technologies (IT) and applications designed to improve the performance of retailers. Consultants advise retailers to adopt the program wholesale, implying that more and higher levels of technology are better than less technology and lower levels. Academicians, on the other hand, argue that good technology is "appropriate" technology. That is, firms should adopt only those technologies that suit the specific strategic directions pursued by the firm. Who is right? Which approach to investing in IT yields better performance results? Surprisingly, this cross-sectional survey of 80 specialty retailers found more support for the practitioners' claims than for the academicians'. Adoption of the QR program at a minimal level was associated with higher performance, although there was no performance impact due to higher levels of QR use. Firms did appear to match their IT usage to their business strategies, but there was no linkage between strategic alignment and firm performance, and there was surprisingly little variation in business or IT strategy. In short, the findings of our study suggest that both practitioners and academicians need to refine their theories and advice about what makes IT investments pay off.