Title: Content and design characteristics of Chinese and US corporate homepages

Authors: Lixuan Zhang; Sufeng Tian; Patti C. Miles

Addresses: John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah 84408, USA ' Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Department of Political Sciences, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30907, USA ' Maine Business School, University of Maine, Orono 04469, USA

Abstract: Many Chinese companies have built their online presences but few studies examine if the Chinese corporate websites follow the recommended design guidelines. Through a content analysis of 487 websites of the largest Chinese companies, the study analyses 55 content and design elements of the corporate homepages. The results provide a comprehensive evaluation on the homepage content and design characteristics of the largest Chinese companies. In addition, the differences in web design practices between Fortune 500 and Chinese corporate homepages are discussed.

Keywords: web design; usability; corporate homepages; company homepages; cross-national usability; internet; company websites; corporate websites; China; USA; United States; online presence; design guidelines; homepage content; homepage design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2014.060208

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2014 Vol.11 No.2, pp.153 - 175

Received: 23 Feb 2013
Accepted: 10 Aug 2013
Published online: 06 Jun 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article