Title: The quality and acceptance of websites: an empirical investigation in the context of higher education

Authors: Mutaz M. Al-Debei

Addresses: Department of Management Information Systems, The University of Jordan, 11942, Amman, Jordan

Abstract: The aim of this study is to explain the main factors affecting behavioural intentions of students to regularly use university websites in the future. Universities are investing millions of dollars in developing high quality websites as they believe that this course of action can provide them with significant strategic benefits. Notwithstanding, little is known about what attracts students to regularly use university websites and our understanding in this context is by no means complete. Aiming to advance our knowledge in this domain, this study utilises a novel model that is developed on the basis of three well-established theories in the field of information systems: technology acceptance model, the motivational model, and Delone and Mclean information systems success model. In total, 311 survey questionnaires suitable for data analysis were collected from undergraduate students with majors in IS/IT related disciplines at a large university in Jordan and were then analysed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that information quality is the main predictor of perceived usefulness, whereas system quality is the main predictor of perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, although behavioural beliefs were all found to determine behavioural intentions, perceived usefulness exerts the strongest effect.

Keywords: university websites; technology acceptance model; TAM; motivational model; Delone and Mclean; information systems success model; perceived enjoyment; website quality; website acceptance; higher education; behavioural intention; student intentions; student behaviour; Jordan; information quality; perceived usefulness; system quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2014.059252

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2014 Vol.15 No.2, pp.170 - 188

Published online: 07 Jun 2014 *

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