Title: The relationship between web quality and user satisfaction: the moderating effects of security and content

Authors: Vivek S. Natarajan; Satyanarayana Parayitam; Tejinder Sharma

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, Lamar University, 4400 MLK Blvd. Box # 10025, Beaumont, TX 77710, USA. ' Department of Management and Marketing, Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA. ' Department of Commerce, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra 136119, Haryana, India

Abstract: The growing popularity of online shopping has drawn an increasing amount of attention from organisations to maintain quality of their websites and attract customers. The principal objective of this study was to test the conceptual model of various components of website quality and customer satisfaction. The study investigates the moderating effects of security and content of websites in relation to the effects of components of website quality on customer satisfaction. We collected data consisting of a total of 448 responses from individuals (255 from USA, and 193 from India) who are habituated to visit websites and engage in online shopping. We used structural equation modelling to test the measurement model and employed hierarchical moderated regression to analyse the collected data. Our findings demonstrated that: 1) various components of website quality viz., ease of use, reliability, and interaction are important to enhance customer satisfaction; 2) security and content have moderating effect on these direct relationships. On the basis of our results, the companies must stress the content and security features to enhance customer satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords: website quality; user satisfaction; customer satisfaction; online shopping; internet; world wide web; virtual shopping; websites; moderating effects; web content; USA; India; United States; structural equation modelling; hierarchical moderated regression; ease of use; reliability; interaction; direct relationships; security features; sustained competitive advantage; global markets; business excellence.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2012.044573

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2012 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.52 - 76

Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

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