What Signal Are You Sending? How Website Quality Influences Perceptions of Product Quality and Purchase Intentions

Abstract

An electronic commerce marketing channel is fully mediated by information technology, stripping away much of a product's physical informational cues, and creating information asymmetries (i.e., limited information). These asymmetries may impede consumers' ability to effectively assess certain types of products, thus creating challenges for online sellers. Signaling theory provides a framework for understanding how extrinsic cuessignals-can be used by sellers to convey product quality information to consumers, reducing uncertainty and facilitating a purchase or exchange. This research proposes a model to investigate website quality as a potential signal of product quality and consider the moderating effects of product information asymmetries and signal credibility. Three experiments are reported that examine the efficacy of signaling theory as a basis for predicting online consumer behavior with an experience good. The results indicate that website quality influences consumers' perceptions of product quality, which subsequently affects online purchase intentions. Additionally, website quality was found to have a greater influence on perceived product quality when consumers had higher information asymmetries. Likewise, signal credibility was found to strengthen the relationship between website quality and product quality perceptions for a high quality website. Implications for future research and website design are examined.

Website Credibility Assessment: An Empirical - Investigation of Prominence-interpretation Theory

“…Everard and Galletta (2005) found the intent to purchase from a website depended on trust in the website, and they reason that trust reflects the website's credibility. Wells et al (2011) found that signals about the credibility of a website moderated the effect of website quality on product quality such that the quality of a website had a stronger effect on product quality if an individual saw the website as credible. In turn, they found that product quality affected purchase intentions.…”

“…For example, Everard and Galletta (2005) found that website quality was related to trust in the website, which was, in turn, related to the intent to purchase from the website. Wells, Valacich, and Hess (2011) report that perceived credibility moderated the effect of website quality on product quality. One can investigate issues related to website quality and credibility from several different theoretical perspectives.…”

“…One can investigate issues related to website quality and credibility from several different theoretical perspectives. Everard and Galletta (2005) used theories of impression formation and trust, while Wells and colleagues relied on signaling theory (Wells et al, 2011). Another perspective comes from an under-researched, yet potentially important theory called prominence-interpretation theory (PIT) (Fogg, 2003).…”

The impact of organizational efforts on consumer concerns in an online context

“…To achieve this, organizations focus on building a visually appealing website and attempt to reduce errors in information accuracy and website navigation. Additionally, extant research has suggested that brand image of an organization and its order management processes can positively influence consumer perceptions [21]. Based on such factors, it seemed necessary to perform research on the effects of four important organizational effort components: the visual appearance of a web-site, its order fulfillment process, its absence of errors, and its brand image.…”

Analisis hubungan kualitas situs web dan kualitas informasi akuntansi persepsian

“…Penelitian terdahulu mengenai penggunaan situs web untuk keperluan komersial (Wells, Valacich, dan Hess 2011) dan untuk keperluan pengembangan penelitian sistem informasi (Loiacono et al 2007) menunjukkan bahwa kualitas situs web mempengaruhi tingkat kepercayaan pengguna situs web. Penelitian ini merupakan pengembangan penelitian Wells et al (2011) …”