Does the quality of websites vary by location? A study of urban and rural small firms in Scotland

Documents a study of the usefulness and quality of websites of small firms in urban and rural areas in Scotland using an adapted Web Assessment Index, originally developed by Gonzalez and Palacios. Contrary to the theoretical gap between practice quality in urban and rural small firms, website quality is comparable in urban and rural small businesses. Well-designed sites are rich in content, easily accessible and have fast download speeds. Findings suggest that the WAI would be a useful tool for small firms in terms of encouraging business owners/managers to focus on the various factors that impact on the quality and effectiveness of their websites.

[1]  Bruce D. Weinberg,et al.  Don't keep your Internet customers waiting too long at the (virtual) front door , 2000 .

[2]  Eelko K. R. E. Huizingh,et al.  The content and design of web sites: an empirical study , 2000, Inf. Manag..

[3]  Ulf Johansson,et al.  A conceptualisation of the opportunities and barriers to e‐business development in the smaller firm , 2003 .

[4]  Chang Liu,et al.  Exploring the factors associated with Web site success in the context of electronic commerce , 2000, Inf. Manag..

[5]  H. Haugh,et al.  Are Scottish firms meeting the ICT challenge? Results from a National Survey of Enterprise , 2005 .

[6]  Carole Alcock,et al.  Factors affecting adoption of electronic commerce technologies by SMEs: an Australian study , 2003 .

[7]  E. Malecki.  Digital development in rural areas: potentials and pitfalls $ , 2003 .

[8]  H. Matlay,et al.  Adoption of ICT and e‐commerce in small businesses: an HEI‐based consultancy perspective , 2003 .

[9]  Helen Couclelis,et al.  Pizza over the Internet: e-commerce, the fragmentation of activity and the tyranny of the region , 2004 .

[10]  Robert Hudson,et al.  Share dealing on the web: a comprehensive review of design specifications across the globe , 2000, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[11]  J. R. Cuadrado-Roura,et al.  ICT policies for SMEs and regional disparities. The Spanish case , 2004 .

[12]  Antonis C. Stylianou,et al.  Global corporate web sites: an empirical investigation of content and design , 2003, Inf. Manag..

[13]  Laura Galloway,et al.  Can broadband access rescue the rural economy , 2007 .

[14]  David Deakins,et al.  Rural business use of information and communications technologies (ICTs): a study of the relative impact of collective activity in rural Scotland , 2004 .

[15]  Andrew Errington,et al.  Measuring the determinants of relative economic performance of rural areas , 2009 .

[16]  Paul Jen-Hwa Hu,et al.  Toward an analytical approach for effective Web site design: A framework for modeling, evaluation and enhancement , 2007, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..

[17]  Peter Holland,et al.  Small firm Internet adoption: opportunities forgone, a journey not begun , 2003 .

[18]  Laurel A. Clyde.  A strategic planning approach to Web site management , 2000, Electron. Libr..

[19]  Francisco Javier Miranda González,et al.  A new Web assessment index: Spanish universities analysis , 2001, Internet Res..

[20]  Arno Scharl,et al.  Quantitive evaluation of Web site content and structure , 2000, Internet Res..

[21]  Francisco Javier Miranda González,et al.  Quantitative evaluation of commercial web sites: : an empirical study of Spanish firms , 2004, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[22]  Jonathan W. Palmer,et al.  Web Site Usability, Design, and Performance Metrics , 2002, Inf. Syst. Res..

[23]  David Deakins,et al.  Rural small firms' use of the internet: From global to local , 2011 .

[24]  Hakman A. Wan,et al.  Opportunities to enhance a commercial website , 2000, Inf. Manag..

[25]  Avi Goldfarb,et al.  How did location affect adoption of the commercial Internet? Global village vs. urban leadership , 2005 .

[26]  B. Thomas,et al.  Social Aspects of the Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Agri-Food SMEs in Wales , 2002 .

[27]  David C. Yen,et al.  Improving the quality of online presence through interactivity , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[28]  Zheng Zhou,et al.  Development and validation of an instrument to measure user perceived service quality of information presenting Web portals , 2005, Inf. Manag..

[29]  Seamus Grimes,et al.  Rural areas in the information society: diminishing distance or increasing learning capacity? , 2000, Journal of Rural Studies.

[30]  Gisela M. von Dran,et al.  User Expectations and Rankings of Quality Factors in Different Web Site Domains , 2001, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[31]  Elizabeth Daniel,et al.  An exploration of the inside‐out model: e‐commerce integration in UK SMEs , 2003 .

[32]  Barrie Dale,et al.  Key quality factors in Web site design and use: an examination , 2002 .

[33]  Jos van Iwaarden,et al.  Perceptions about the quality of web sites: a survey amongst students at Northeastern University and Erasmus University , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[34]  Wei-Shang Fan,et al.  Factors driving website success – the key role of Internet customisation and the influence of website design quality and Internet marketing strategy , 2010 .

[35]  Mei Cao,et al.  B2C e-commerce web site quality: an empirical examination , 2005, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[36]  Laura Galloway,et al.  The use of ICT in rural firms: A policy-orientated literature review , 2005 .

[37]  Blanca Hernández Ortega,et al.  International Journal of Information Management , 2022 .

[38]  E. Ramsey,et al.  E‐opportunities of service sector SMEs: an Irish cross‐border study , 2003 .

[39]  Prashant C. Palvia,et al.  Developing and validating an instrument for measuring user-perceived web quality , 2002, Inf. Manag..

[40]  Robert Huggins,et al.  The Digital Divide and ICT Learning in Rural Communities: Examples of Good Practice Service Delivery , 2002 .

[41]  Duncan J. Anderson,et al.  What is really different about rural and urban firms? Some evidence from Northern Ireland , 2003 .

[42]  Chechen Liao,et al.  Website practices: A comparison between the top 1000 companies in the US and Taiwan , 2006, Int. J. Inf. Manag..