An empirical investigation of antecedents of B2B websites' effectiveness

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence customers' perceptions of the effectiveness of business-to-business Websites and to test empirically the significance of these factors. Based on a review of academic and trade press literature, we identified eight factors that are thought to influence business-to-business Website effectiveness. Following standard scale development procedures, we developed valid and reliable scales for measuring each of these eight factors. A Web survey-based field study was conducted in which 540 business customers of a power tool company gave their opinions about one of eight construction industry Websites with which they were most familiar. We simultaneously tested the significance of these eight factors in explaining the effectiveness of Websites. Our results suggest that of the eight factors considered, informativeness, organization, transaction-related interactivity, and personalization are significant predictors of Website effectiveness. We found no direct relationship between the other factors (nontransaction-related interactivity, privacy/security, accessibility, and entertainment) and Website effectiveness.