Assessing the user experience of airlines websites in Malaysia based on customer centered design

The explosion of the World Wide Web has significantly transformed the airline industry. Hence the online ticketing has become a famous and convenient way. As a result, the demand towards this system has tremendously increased. This system supports to reduce the service cost hence presents the possibility to offer cheaper fare. Consequently, the customer is offered with vast range of airlines web sites. Obviously they prefer a site that is more usable. The fundamental problem that motivates this study is to find the factors that determine customer acceptance of the airlines web site. Through the experimental study, the features of three airlines web sites in Malaysia, which are AirAsia (www.airasia.com), Malaysia Airlines (www.mas.com.my) and StarAir (www.starair-online.com) have been analyzed. We present a theoretical framework that highlights the importance of (1) convenient booking flow; (2) efficiency; (3) ease of use; (4) interactivity; and (5) attractiveness; to attract the customers. The result of this research provides a basis for better user experience assessment of the airlines web sites. We end with suggestions for better airlines web site usability based on customer centered design

Accessibility of Tourism Websites: Attitudes and Behaviors

While developed countries continue to shape an industry that has somehow become an integral part of the society, it only seems fair that the industry should provide equal access for every member of the society, recouping members of the market that is excluded without notice. The basic tier of service in the web interface is to provide information, before any booking systems and online purchasing (Siegel, 1997). In the travel industry, this basic tier is achieved in many different travel businesses, but consistently in destination marketing websites that solely promotes a tourism destination through delivering information about the specific location. Palmer & McCole (2000) claimed that information technology has created a portal whereby potential consumer can browse through the web interface to view what the destination offers and develop a picture that would contribute to imagining a supposed travel experience. This study will examine the behavior of a website user in assessing the accessibility of Destination Management Organization (DMO) websites. This also acts to suggest the level of complexity that DMO’s may solve by recognizing primary errors and consumer attitude in providing equal access

A Cross-National Comparison of Corporate Web-Site Communications; An Examination of the Services Sector

Despite the trend toward increased marketing in the electronic medium, there is still a lack of comprehensive research. Especially noteworthy is the lack of research on equivalence of electronic information across both industries and national boundaries. The literature is replete with findings from studies surrounding consumer and B2B goods advertising promoted through print and TV mediums however, this study suggests that previous findings and methods may not be directly transferrable to service advertisers in an electronic medium. The specific design characteristics inherent with the web medium combined with the inherent limitations surrounding cultural indices suggest that new methods and measures are required. This study proposes that a newly developed one-dimensional construct that incorporates socioeconomic, media, and technology variables can be applied to better evaluate differences in web-based information content. It is suggested that this new indicator can support a clearer and more systematic procedure for use in cross-national communication studies than previously used method

A Cross-National Comparison of Corporate Web-Site Communications; An Examination of the Services Sector

Despite the trend toward increased marketing in the electronic medium, there is still a lack of comprehensive research. Especially noteworthy is the lack of research on equivalence of electronic information across both industries and national boundaries. The literature is replete with findings from studies surrounding consumer and B2B goods advertising promoted through print and TV mediums however, this study suggests that previous findings and methods may not be directly transferrable to service advertisers in an electronic medium. The specific design characteristics inherent with the web medium combined with the inherent limitations surrounding cultural indices suggest that new methods and measures are required. This study proposes that a newly developed one-dimensional construct that incorporates socioeconomic, media, and technology variables can be applied to better evaluate differences in web-based information content. It is suggested that this new indicator can support a clearer and more systematic procedure for use in cross-national communication studies than previously used method

A Cross-National Comparison of Corporate Web-Site Communications; An Examination of the Services Sector

Despite the trend toward increased marketing in the electronic medium, there is still a lack of comprehensive research. Especially noteworthy is the lack of research on equivalence of electronic information across both industries and national boundaries. The literature is replete with findings from studies surrounding consumer and B2B goods advertising promoted through print and TV mediums however, this study suggests that previous findings and methods may not be directly transferrable to service advertisers in an electronic medium. The specific design characteristics inherent with the web medium combined with the inherent limitations surrounding cultural indices suggest that new methods and measures are required. This study proposes that a newly developed one-dimensional construct that incorporates socioeconomic, media, and technology variables can be applied to better evaluate differences in web-based information content. It is suggested that this new indicator can support a clearer and more systematic procedure for use in cross-national communication studies than previously used method

E-commerce quality and evaluation framework based on technical and user perspectives

The study produces an e-commerce quality and evaluation (ECQE) framework based on consumer perspectives.It was conducted in four main phases that include: 1) theoretical study; 2) empirical study; 3) e-commerce quality and evaluation framework construction and development, and 4) confirmation study. The ECQE framework includes four components: quality factors that deal with user expectation and satisfaction; assessment entity, assessment specification, and quality level.The framework was tested on six e-commerce websites.Results show that the ECQE framework is applicable and realistic.The ECQE framework offers a guidance and standard procedure for e-commerce website quality evaluation that can be used to improve organization websites to meet the consumers need and to keep the organization competitive and sustainable

Mediating effect of personal and situational characteristics of Arab tourists in Malaysia and their influence on information sources and information channels of tourist information choice strategies

Statistics show that the influx of tourists in Malaysia has continued to increase by 14.3%; information sources and information channels have played crucial roles in this regard. However, existing studies are yet to distinguish how information sources and information channels influence information choice strategies of Arab tourists. Therefore, this study examines the mediating effects of personal and situational characteristics on information sources and information channels to provide clearer understanding on how information sources and information channels influence the information choice strategies of Arab tourists. Data was collected from 358 Arab tourists in Malaysia through the self-administered questionnaire procedure, and the data was analysed using the multiple regression analysis. Overall, the study found that information sources and information channels had significant influence on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. As for the mediating effects, the study also found that personal characteristics significantly mediate the influence of information sources on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. The result showed that situational characteristics significantly mediate the influence of information sources on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. Therefore, the study concluded that information sources and information channels influence the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists, while personal and situational characteristics significantly mediate influence of the information sources and information channels on the information choice strategies. The study contributes to the body of literature in this area and also provides several insights that may contribute to the development of knowledge that would effectively enhance the tourism industry in Malaysia and also attract more Arab tourists to Malaysia. The study recommends that both the Arab tourists and the Malaysian tourist agencies should always consider personal and situational characteristics in planning for tourism adventure policies on tourism. Finally, the study highlights the limitation of the study and the suggestions for future study

INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN USERS AND SYSTEM FLEXIBILITIES WITH PERCEIVED USABILITY OF ONLINE AIRLINE RESERVATION SYSTEMS

It is very critical for the organizations to design flexible systems that are easy to use and can accomplish all the requirements by way of offering customizability. Philosophers argue that users are good in adapting the systems; however, research shows users dissatisfaction with existing Online Airline Reservation Systems in terms of task completion. Therefore, researchers are eager to find out ways for improving online usability of the systems, how users' Perceived Usability of the system is formulated by its flexibility functions. This research therefore examines travelers' expectations, preferences and online behavior (Users' Flexibility) and aligns that with designing of flexible online airline reservation systems (System's Flexibility) and users' as evaluators of the online systems to determine its Perceived Usability through users' effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction (Perceived Usability). In this dissertation, both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to analyze the data collected in the context of SF, lJF and PU of the systems. A redesign solution for enhanced usability was developed based on HCI guidelines and the flexibility tactics used in online travel agencies, which led to a proposed interface with the integration of opaque mechanism. The two interfaces were used in the experiment. Participants were requested to complete the evaluation of the existing and proposed interfaces. The findings suggested that users can be classified on the basis of their Flexible Traveling Behavior which led to the development of a Users' Flexibility measuring scale. It is further investigated that integration of opaque fares concept would increase the usability of the system. Since flexibility is referred to its ability to respond to internal or external changes, systems incorporated with opaque fares would serve the role of external change agent by way of providing flexibility in users' decision making and will also serve the role of internal change agent by way of providing the capability of accepting changed decisions

An electronic service quality transactional model of attraction, trust and loyalty for interactive healthcare portal

Interactive Health Portals (IHPs) are portals of healthcare providers which offer e-services for patients to assist them in obtaining required health information, communicate easily and access all services offered. The quality of e-services provided by the IHP is a critical concern since it serves as a gateway to patients to interact with a respective healthcare provider. IHPs are well developed in US and Europe, but developing countries such as Malaysia are still lagging behind this trend. IHPs are very important for private hospitals whose aim include servicing patients from other countries. Previous studies have investigated how to attract patients, to increase their trust and to make them loyal to IHPs within developing countries, however they were studied in a segregate manner. The relationship among them have yet been explored in the context of healthcare and as a transaction model for patients’ loyalty on IHP is not studied yet. The aim of this study is to identify the e-service quality (e-SQ) factors that may influence attraction, trust and loyalty on IHP and thus propose an e-SQ transactional model of attraction, trust and loyalty for IHP. A survey method was employed to examine the influence of the identified e-SQ factors on three components of attraction, trust and loyalty in the proposed model. Questionnaires were distributed targeting patients at three private hospitals who had experience in using e-services in which two hundred and three patients responded to the survey. Collected data were analysed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results showed that e-SQ factors of usability, information quality, virtual training, IHP services, and cost savings positively influenced patients’ attraction. Trust of patients was positively influenced by security, privacy, reliability, and policy of IHPs. Finally, the e-SQ factors of compensation, responsiveness and hospitality affected patient loyalty in a positive manner. The Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis indicated that the top priority to be addressed to attract patients are IHP services and cost saving. Next, attraction, reliability and privacy are the most important factors to gain patients’ trust, while hospitality and trust are most significant to make patients loyal. The e-SQ transactional model as an outcome of this study is hoped to assist Malaysian IHP providers to better understand patients’ demands and allow them to design more patient-centric portals. This study is especially beneficial to private hospitals which receive no governmental financial aids and are in close competition with other private hospitals