An empirical test of the link between web site quality and forward enterprise integration with web consumers

Purpose – To understand the relationship between web site quality and consumers' web attitudes and purchases. Design/methodology/approach – The paper constructs and tests a model linking four sub‐dimensions of web site quality to purchasing intent of consumers using data gathered via a field survey. Findings – Only the technical dimension of web site quality influences consumers' purchasing behavior both directly and indirectly through their attitudes towards the web site. Specific content quality and appearance quality have relatively stronger association with consumers' attitudes towards the web site than technical quality and general content quality do. Research limitations/implications – First, the present study used a sample of students in testing the proposed model. In the future, there may be a need to re‐test the same research model using a wider sample of web consumers. Second, attitudes toward and intentions to buying online may change over time and this study does not take this fact into account. Future research may need to examine the proposed relationships using a longitudinal design. Practical implications – It was shown that by giving attention to building a technically sound web site with effective content and attractive design, an organization could bring in more consumers to its online business and convince them to make purchases. Originality/value – Understanding the link between multiple dimensions of web site quality and purchasing behavior of web consumers should help organizations know how to improve forward integration with their customers. Previous research, although helpful, failed to examine this important relationship. This paper tries to fill this void in the literature.