As an important factor that comprises the internet, a website can be defined as one of the objects that materialize the Internet. Since internet users can approach and communicate on the internet through websites, the quality of the website has a grea...
As an important factor that comprises the internet, a website can be defined as one of the objects that materialize the Internet. Since internet users can approach and communicate on the internet through websites, the quality of the website has a great deal of effect on internet user experience. From this standpoint, a website can be an integral part of the business element of a company conducting business online. Thus, evaluating the quality of a website is an important activity that is very much akin to evaluating an offline business.
Unlike its offline counterparts, the internet’s business environment is characterized with uneasy confirmation of the authenticity of information or control of information distribution which result in the existence of much uncertainty and hazards; the credibility of a website acts as an important factor in the creation and development of consumer-business relations. Thus, it is possible to observe a rise in high levels of credibility such as how questions by customers are dealt with swiftly through services like “Q&A” and those users who are satisfied with the quality of service that then transform into loyal consumers. On the contrary, credibility decreases when consumers become dissatisfied with information processing services or customer security services which in turn negatively affect the willingness to purchase that company’s products or services in the future.
In this kind of internet environment, to understand one’s current business conditions and how to utilize the website strategically are important issues. Understanding how a website can be successful is an indispensable condition for such strategic uses. The goal of this research is to find the quality factors that website users recognize in the online environment in order to determine if such quality factors affect the website’s outcomes measuring as credibility and e-loyalty. To this end, related variables were analyzed and the research model was verified. The following summarizes the results of the research.
First, it was observed that system, information, service, and security qualities were the website’s quality factors that positively affect the credibility to the customer. It was revealed that the website’s credibility positively affects e-loyalty. This conclusion agrees with the results of past research.
Second, in the category of finance and portal sites, the factors that notably affect reliability are system quality and security quality. Between these two, security quality, especially, showed to have the greatest effect on credibility to the consumer.
Third, in the category of online shopping sites, it was determined that all quality factors notably affect credibility towards the customer. Among these factors, security quality showed to have the greatest effect on the customer.
Fourth, in the category of entertainment sites, it was determined that only system, information, and service qualities notably affected credibility. Among them, it was analyzed that service quality had the greatest effect.
Based on the abovementioned research results, when constructing and operating another company’s website under real working conditions, one must consider the quality factors that affect each website’s outcome and approach them strategically. Regarding the reliability of the portal, online shopping, and financial sites, the results showed that security quality has a significant effect. Thus, there will be a need for further research on the quality of security. In real life, in order to raise e-loyalty, rather than the frequency of visits or frequency of use, it seems that increasing reliability would lead yield better results.