Quality assessment of e-commerce websites

Sparti interneto svetainių plėtra ir jų taikymas įvairiems organizacijų tikslams pasiekti aktualizuoja interneto svetainių informacijos turinio ir jo pateikimo kokybės užtikrinimą ir vertinimą. Tyrimo tikslas – atskleisti elektroninės prekybos internetinių svetainių kokybės vertinimo ypatumus. Straipsnyje analizuojama elektroninės prekybos interneto svetainių kokybės samprata, išskiriami interneto svetainių kokybės vertinimo veiksniai, apibendrinami naudojami modeliai interneto svetainių kokybei vertinti. Taip pat pateikiami autorinio tyrimo, atlikto remiantis WebQual modeliu ir metodika, rezultatai, kurie įgalino nustatyti ir įvertinti elektroninės prekybos interneto svetainių kokybės veiksnius bei jų įtaką vartotojų pasitenkinimui ir lojalumui.Strategic information management enables organisations to maintain competitive advantage, therefore the issues of information quality are important for the organisations working in foreign and domestic markets. Rapid development of websites and their usage for the achievement of organisational goals actualises quality assurance and the assessment of website content and presentation. In accordance with the data of Statistics Lithuania, the number of e-commerce consumers has been rapidly growing. Consumers are interested in e-commerce, however, they are becoming more discerning and choose websites on the basis of some quality factors. The aim of the article is to reveal the characteristics of the e-commerce websites quality evaluation. In the article, the concept of the quality of e-commerce websites was analysed, the evaluation models of website quality were summarised, and quality assessment factors of e-commerce websites were identified. A study based on the WebQual model and its methodology was carried out. The findings of the study enabled us to determine and evaluate e-commerce websites quality factors and their influence on Lithuanian consumers' satisfaction and loyalty. As proved by the factorial analysis, only four factors, viz. convenience, visualisation, information quality, and trust, were important for Lithuanian consumers. The respondents provided different interpretations of two dimensions of the WebQual model: design and empathy. As witnessed by the regression analysis, convenience was totally unimportant for the satisfaction and loyalty of Lithuanian customers, while visualisation and trust were the most important factors. Information quality was less important than the two former factors