FACTORS DRIVING EFFECTIVE USAGE OF WEBSITE: CONSUMER PERSPECTIVES.

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1 Volume 119 No , ISSN: (on-line version) url: FACTORS DRIVING EFFECTIVE USAGE OF WEBSITE: CONSUMER PERSPECTIVES 1 A.Latha, M. 2 Arun Cholarajan, 3 Dr. S. Balasubramanian, 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Kumaraguru College of Engineering, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, 2 PG Student, Department of Management, Kumaraguru College of Engineering, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India 1 lathakamalesh@kctbs.ac.in ABSTRACT: Understanding the factors driving the effective use of website is the basic motive behind this research. The authors have identified five dimensions through the published resources which includes website design, Website interactivity, Navigation, security, Functionality which determines end user usage. The entire research has been carried out for an organisation who basically provides website development and design service for the clients located at UK and USA. The author has collected details from 150 end users who have accessed the client s website. Application of multivariate analysis proved that all the five dimensions identified is significant in influencing the end-user usage of website. Security and site interaction aspects of the website is found to more significant in influence the end usage. The authors have offered feasible suggestions for further improvement of security and site interactivity aspects. Keywords: Website design, Online sales, Navigation, Security in online transaction 2507

2 1. GROWTH OF WEBSITE AND INTERNET PENETRATION: Internet and Ecommerce industries are growing at the rapid speed. Published sources indicates that the (Internet world statistics [1] 2008), internet growing rate during 1995 is 0.4% of word population that is 16 million users. While the growth rate during December 2017 is 54% of the population which is 4,157 Million users across the world.india is termed to be the second largest online market next to China. the report published by SurabhiAgarval [2],(Feb 2018)Internet and Mobile Association of India claims that the internet users as of December 2017 is 481 million and it is expected to reach 500 million by June This tremendous growth in internet penetration significantly influences the growth of on line ecommerce industries (Indian Brand Equity Foundation [3] 2018) which is expected to reach US $ 64 billion by The growth of internet penetration, ecommerce industries, level of completion, changing life style of consumers made many FMCG, B to B and retail industries to showcase their presence in online space. Industries today allot a huge budget for digital activities. Building effective corporate website is one such major activity which is predominantly used to display the details of range of products and services dealt by the corporates. Proper design elements are very critical to engage the customers who ever access the website 2. RESEARCH PROBLEM Adair technologies are one of the leading company in developing technological solution Located at Coimbatore. They offer high level of technical knowledge in web application development, mobility and digital marketing solution. It is a professional web design company which offers wide range of web applications and solutions. The organisation currently serves more than 35 companies located at India, UK and USA. Being a web designing company, M/s Adair technologies Is constantly looking for methods and process to improve the website usage. The organisation is interested to understand how end-users perceive various aspects of website and to understand how to improve the web usage. In this regard the researcher has undertaken this research work to explore and identify the factors which influences website usage. 2508

3 3. LITERATURE REVIEW Renee Garett [4], in his study has identified that the website navigation, Graphical representation, organisation of content, content utility, simplicity, readability plays vital role in making the website design very effective. While BoudhayanGanguly [5] (2010) has identified that quality of the web design, Trust on online store, Existing culture of human beings drives the effective web design and online shopping. Eduard Cristobal [o] (2007) have studied the influence of perceived quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. D. Gehrke ; E. Turban [7] (2002) stated that the success of ecommerce for any company is dependent upon the effective and appropriate website design. Further the author also has listed the factors which determines the effectiveness of web design this includes page loading speed, business content, navigation efficiency, security and marketing/customer focus. HemaBanati [8] (2006), in her study identified list of factors which influences website usage. User profile, Prior experience of the user and various stakeholders of the website which includes organisation hosting the website, organisation which design and maintains the website play critical role in determining the website usage. The author further highlighted that Efficiency, Effectiveness, learnability, memorability and appearance of the website and users existing level of satisfaction are the other relevant factors which determines the website usage. Kholoud Al-Qeisi [9] in his research stated that technical, general content and appearance dimension of a website are more important factors. The author further concluded that all these three factors are interlinked with the usage behaviour. Ahmad Ghandour [10] in his paper has developed a conceptual model for measuring e commerce website success. The authors have recommended informative, transactional, promotional aspects, design aspects of website, and customer service are the major factors which drives the website use and end user satisfaction. Billy Baia 2008 [11],in his research paper stated that website quality has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and online purchase. The further stated that the website quality is determined based on the quality of online store, system quality, information quality. 4. METHODOLOGY 4.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors influencing customer usage of website 2509

4 4.2 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS Review of literature reveals list of five variables which determines user intention to use the website. This includes website attractiveness, functionality, Interactivity, Navigation and security. The variable website attractiveness determined the ability of the website in gaining the user attention which Mansur Aliyu [12] (2013) can be measured through the presence of fun elements, Visual appearance, Aesthetics, usage comfort. The variable functionality is described as ease with which user can access the site in different platforms. In general functionality Mansur Aliyu [12] (2013) is described through measuring the ability of the website in supporting different browsing, time taken by the website for loading or responding, provision to find all information required etc. Interactivity refers (Paul Benjamin Lowry [14] 2006) to the ability of the website in attracting the viewers to converse with the content available in the website. It is defined as a reciprocal community between two entities that is between a human user and website. Navigation Mansur Aliyu [13] (2013) allow user to get the information required through few simple steps. This is made possible through presence of un broken hyper link in home page and add on web pages. Shennes Mathew, T. Janani (2017) 12, The variable Security refers to ability of the website to safe guard and protect the personal information of the users. protecting personal data from unauthorised sources, protecting users from hacker. The variable website usage measures user s willingness to use and rely the information provided in the website and interest to proceed further to buy or deal with other business with the website hoster. The variables website attractiveness, functionality, Interactivity, Navigation and security are considered as independents or predictor variable and the variable user intention to use the website is identified as the dependent variable. Hypothesis 1: The independent variables website attractiveness, functionality, Interactivity, Navigation and security predicts the website usage. 4.3 SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION: Adair technologies has developed websites for more than 35 companies so far, serves its client located at Coimbatore, UK and USA. The data for the current study has been collected from the clients located in UK and USA.Data has been collected through online survey from the customers of 20 different companies for whom the website has been 2510

5 constructed by Adair technologies. Through the formal approval from the clients, the researcher has sent online link to 825 clients, and received response from 150 respondents. 4.4 SURVEY INSTRUMENT & DATA ANALYSIS The instrument has totally 38 items, which classified in six variable Demographic, Attractiveness, Functionality, Navigation, Security and Intention to use. Except demographic variable response for all other items has been collected through a 5 point Likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The data collected from 150 end users have been analysed using SPSS. Cronbach alpha, Descriptive analysis and Multiple regression has been applied by the researcher for the data analysis. 5. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 5.1 TEST OF RELIABILITY FACTOR CRONBACH ALPHA NUMBER OF ITEMS Attractiveness Functionality Interactivity Navigation Security In order to test the reliability, Cronbach alpha values for each design construct were evaluated. The Cronbach alpha values range from to which indicates that the data is reliable and further conforms the data consistency. 5.2 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS: Particulars Frequency Percentage Gender Male 65% Female 35% Age Years 21% Years 75% Educational Qualification 2511

6 Post Graduate 43% Under Graduate 37% Diploma 20% Time spent on Internet Usage 0-3 hours 28% 4-7 hours 42% 8-11 hours 30% Inference: Most of the end-users participated in this survey are males (65%) in the age group of years with post-graduation (43%). The table further indicates that most of the end users spent almost 4-7 hours per day on the internet. 5.3 RESULTS OF DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS: S.NO NAME OF THE CONSTRUCT MEAN Std Deviation 1. Attractiveness Functionality Interactivity Navigation Security Inference: the above table indicates the overall descriptive score for five different constructs. The end users are happy with respect to security, Website and functionality aspects. However, the there is a lot of scope available for Adair technologies to bring further improvements in bringing attractiveness and Navigation related aspects. 5.4 RESULTS OF MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS: A multivariate analysis has been executed by the researcher to understand the whether the factors website attractiveness, functionality, Interactivity, Navigation and security predicts the website usage. The end user intention to use the website is considered as the dependent variable and all other remaining five constructs are defined as the independent variable. 2512

7 Model Summary R R Square Adjusted R Std Error of the Square estimates.969a Predictors: (Constant), Security, Functionality, Interactivity, Attractiveness, Navigation Dependent Variable : Intention to use ANOVA Model Sum of Squares DF Mean F Sign Regression Residual Total Coefficient table Model Unstandardized Coefficient t Sig Constant Attractiveness Functionality Interactivity Navigation Security Intention to use = (Security) + (o.234) (Navigation) + (1.007) (Interactivity) + (0.022) (Functionality) + (-.196) (Attractiveness) + (.400) The Regression statistics table provide R and R square value. The R value is 97% which represents simple correlation. It indicates high degree of correlation. The R Square value indicates how much of dependent variable (Intention to use) can be explain by the independent variables (Attractiveness, Functionality, Interactivity, Navigation, Security) n this case, 93% can be explained. The model fit can be access by use of R & R Square higher the value of R & R Square better is the order fit. The higher value of R & R Square & Significant value of ANOVA (0.000) indicates the model applied can statistically, significantly predict the outcome variable. 2513

8 All the independent variable is found to be significant in predicting the end user intention to use the website. However, the variable security and website interactivity is found to be highly significant in influencing the user intention to use the website. 6. MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS The survey conducted with the end users of the Adair technologies reveals that they are happy with the security, functionality and site interactivity aspects. However, the end users are seems to be little low as far as concerned with site navigation and attractiveness. This indicates that the organisation has got lot of scope for bringing further innovation in website design and site navigation. The results of multiple regression indicate that all the elements are significant in influencing the end-user to use the website. Among all the six dimensions including website design, Navigation, site interactivity, Functionality, security and course interaction security aspects are seems to be highly significant in influencing user to access the website. Hence it is suggested to Adair technologies to focus more on security related aspects. The technology used by the organisation need to be very strong and reliable in securing user s personal data and information. It is advised to maintain and update the website with frequent intervals. It is also very much important to encourage user s interaction. Organisation of local and National and International contests can be considered as one of the vibrant methods to encourage user interaction. Website interaction can be further leveraged by using the power of social media. Website should provide easy access to the users to like and share the contents / Video through the social network sites. Enabling the website to get the end user feedback and responding properly to the end user feedback will instil trust and confidence among the prospective customers. Organisation maintaining the website can consider this as an opportunity for further improvements of organisation offering based on the customer voice. 2514

9 7. REFERENCES: 1. History and growth of the Internet from 1995 till today, Internet world statistics, retrieved from 2. SurabhiAgarval,(Feb 2018), Internet users in India expected to reach 500 million by june : IAMA I, The Economic Times, retrieved from 3. (April 2018),E Commerce Industry in India, India Brand Equity Foundation, retrieved from 4. Renee Garett, MS, LCSW, Jason Chiu, MS, Ly Zhang and Sean D. Young, A Literature Review: Website Design and User Engagement, HHS Public Access, retrieved from 5. B.Ganguly (2010), The effects of website design on purchase intention in online shopping: The mediating role of trust and the moderating role of culture, International journal of electronics Business, retrieved from 6. Eduard Cristobal (2007), Perceived e service quality (PeSQ): Measurement validation and effects on consumer satisfaction and web site loyalty, Managing Service quality, An International Journal, 17(3) retrieved from 7. D. Gehrke ; E. Turban (1999),Determinants of successful Website design: relative importance and recommendations for effectiveness, Proceedings of 32 nd Annual Hawali International Conference on Systems Sciences, retrieved from /HICSS HemaBanati, PunamBedi and P.S. Grover (April 2006), Evaluating web usability from user perspective, Journal of Computer Science 2(4), retrieved from DOI: /jcssp Kholoud Al-Qeisi,Charles Dennis, EleftheriosAlamanos, ChanakaJayawardhen (March 2014), website design quality and usage behaviour: Unified theory of acceptance and Use of Technology, Journal of Business research67(11): , retrieved from DOI: /j.jbusres

10 10. Ghandour, Ahmad; Deans, Kenneth; Benwell, George; and Pillai, Paul, "Measuring ecommerce Website Success" (2008).ACIS 2008 Proceedings Billy Baia, Rob Lawb, Ivan Wenc (2008), The impact of website quality on customer satisfaction and purchase intentions: Evidence from Chinese online visitors, International journal of hospitality management 27 ( ) 12. Mansur Aliyu, Abu Osman (2013), A Preliminary investigation of Islamic websites design features that influence use : A Proposed model, The electronic journal on information systems in developing countries,58(5),retrieved from GATION_OF_ISLAMIC_WEBSITES%27_DESIGN_FEATURES_THAT_INFLUE NCE_USE_A_PROPOSED_MODEL 13. Shennes Mathew, T. Janani (2017), A Comparative Analysis Of Various Control Strategies On Heat Exchanger System, International Journal Of Pure And Applied Mathematics, Volume 117 No. 22, (59-63), 14. Paul Benjamin Lowry, Trent Spaulding, Taylor Wells, Greg Moody, Kevin Moffit, and Sebastian Madariaga (2006). "A Theoretical Model and Empirical Results Linking Website Interactivity and Usability Satisfaction," 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Hawaii, January 4-7 (doi: /HICSS ). 2516

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