Use & evaluation of the web: A case in Hong Kong Kara Chan and Brian Wong Hong Kong Baptist University

Use of IT in companies, 2000 PC penetration52% Internet connectivity37% Web site 7% Business receipt received thru electron meansUS$0.6 billion in 1999 E-business (purchase, receipt, selling, delivery, Services or information) 35%

Use of IT in homes, 2000 PC penetration (HH)50% Internet connectivity (HH)36% Use internet service (individual)30% Mostly at homes, then at work, then at schools Mainly for or to gather information Use of electronic commerce services 85% (mainly ATM cash machines, EPS cash payment, Payment by phone) Bought goods on line1% (security)

Trends Government: electronic service delivery scheme in October, delivery of government services on line Filing tax return, registering as voters, Applying driving licences Public broadcast on line: 2 million listen to RTHK on line every day Business: e-banking, on-line newspapers Medium-small companies: lag behind due to lack of IT and financial support

An experimental study 2X2 factorial design: random assignment Design factor 1: image to text ratio: high vs low Design factor 2: interactivity: presence or absence of hyperlink Two products: high involvement: driving school; low involvement: electronic games Dependent variable: 15 evaluative statements (5- point scale) and overall score (100 points) Respondents: 144 Chinese undergraduates

Respondents profile 107 females + 33 males Used internet for > 1 year Popular topics: news, entertainment, art, computer Often used search engines and friends to find sites Manipulation check: significant difference in perceived importance of the purchase decision of driving course and e-game

Findings for driving course web No difference in 14 evaluative statements No difference in overall evaluation scores Site with less pictures, more links was considered to be more interesting than site with more pictures and no link

Findings for games web No difference in 12 evaluative statements No difference in overall evaluation scores Site with links (no matter pictures are big or small) was considered to have higher chance of revisit Site with links was considered to be less boring Site with links was considered to have better interactive communication

mediating variable Internet literacy: respondents more familiar with internet liked the web more and were likely to find them boring, more likely to re- visit the web

Factor analysis Across individuals and web sites 3-factor solution Factor 1: appreciation: liking, interesting, worth browsing, effective Factor 2: information: information-rich, find the relevant information, good interactive communication Factor 3: clarity: not getting lose, easy to read, good icons

conclusion Under high involvement condition, respondents need for information, design factors don’t play an important roles Under low involvement situation, design factors play a more important role Three dimensions of evaluation of web sites: for a successful web: provide necessary information, add entertainment element, easy to retrieve