Tripwolf  Travel Guide Website

Introduction:

Data was collected from 381 respondents to test a number of hypotheses using Tripwolf travel guide website, a total of 70 male and 86 female respondents indicated their gender and therefore 44.9% were male and 55.1% were female. Respondents were aged between 16 to 66 years where majority of the respondents were aged 21 and 23 years. The following is a test of the hypothesis using 6 theories by Wolfinbarger (2003) regarding the relationship between information and users.

Data analysis:

Hypothesis testing:

Hypothesis 1:

This hypothesis is based on the theory that users of information will look for information that is objective and precise, the hypothesis therefore in this case will be that when information is accurate the more trustworthy the users will find a website. (Wolfinbarger, 2003)

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To test this hypothesis question 8 (response 12) regarding accuracy of information is used and question 8 (response 6) regarding the trustworthy rating of the site by individuals.

The following table summarises the refrequecies in each category:

Q8 (6) * Q8 (12)

Q8(12 ) accuracy

Total

trustworthy

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree or disagree

Disagree

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Strongly disagree

Q8(6)

Strongly agree

7

4

0

0

0

11

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Agree

4

59

24

1

0

88

Neither agree or disagree

1

20

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40

3

1

65

Disagree

1

0

4

1

1

7

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Strongly disagree

0

1

0

0

0

1

Total

13

84

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68

5

2

172

From the above frequency table more individuals (59) agree that information is accurate and trustworthy, none of the individuals disagreed that information was not accurate and inaccurate.

To test association of the two variables a chi square test is undertaken:

Null hypothesis: H0: no association between trustworthy and accuracy rating

Ha: association between trustworthy and accuracy rating

The table below summarises SPSS output:

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Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

98.337(a)

16

.000

Likelihood Ratio

72.015

16

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.000

Linear-by-Linear Association

39.597

1

.000

N of Valid Cases

172

The significance level of the test is 0.000, this value is less than 0.05, for this reason the hypothesis H0: no association between trustworthy and accuracy rating is rejected, therefore there is association between accuracy and whether the respondents find the site to be trustworthy.

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Value

Asymp. Std. Error(a)

Approx. T(b)

Approx. Sig.

Interval by Interval

Pearson’s R

.481

.076

7.157

.000(c)

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Ordinal by Ordinal

Spearman Correlation

.490

.068

7.321

.000(c)

N of Valid Cases

172

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The correlation coefficient value is 0.481 meaning that as accuracy level increases then trustworthy rating also increases, the significance level of the correlation coefficient is 0.000 therefore statistically significant.

Therefore it is true that that when information is accurate the more trustworthy the users will find a website

Hypothesis two:

This hypothesis is based on the theory that users of information will look for information and will only stop after they have found what they were looking for. The hypothesis therefore in this case will be that when information is incomplete then a website will experience a decline in the number of users. (Wolfinbarger, 2003)

In this case we use regression to test this hypothesis, a website will experience a decline in the number of users due to two reasons, one is that current users may not use the website in future and users will not refer their friends to the website

Question 8 (response 10) data is used which was aimed at finding out whether information was complete for the user needs, question 7 (response 1 and response 5) are used that indicate whether an individual will use the website and also whether the individual will refer friends to use the website.

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In the regression estimated we test the significance of the estimated coefficients, the table below summarises the ANOVA table for the regression model:

Model

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F

Sig.

1

Regression

32.243

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2

16.122

28.436

.000(a)

Residual

98.649

174

.567

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Total

130.893

176

The F test significance value is 0.000; given that this value is less than 0.05 then the model coefficients that were estimated are statistically significant. This means that incomplete information will influence the number of users of a website in future.

Hypothesis 3:

This hypothesis is based on the theory that for a website to gain trust the n the site must run as

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advertised. In this case therefore the hypothesis is to test whether reliability has an impact on the level of satisfaction by users. (Wolfinbarger, 2003)

Question 6(response 24) regarding overall satisfaction is used and question 8(response 13) regarding reliability rating of information contained in the website. The chi square test for association is undertaken:

The table below summarises the frequencies:

Q8 (13)* Q6 (24)

Q6(24)

Total

Strongly agree

Agree

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Neither agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Q8(13)

Strongly agree

6

3

1

0

0

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10

Agree

6

52

17

5

1

81

Neither agree or disagree

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5

36

25

5

3

74

Disagree

0

2

0

4

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0

6

Strongly disagree

0

1

0

0

0

1

Total

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17

94

43

14

4

172

From the table majority agree that they were satisfied with the website and that they found information to be reliable.

The table below summarizes chi test results:

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Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

65.084(a)

16

.000

Likelihood Ratio

39.914

16

.001

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Linear-by-Linear Association

14.739

1

.000

N of Valid Cases

172

The significance value of the chi square test is 0.00 and this means that there is association between the two variables; the table below summarizes correlation results:

Value

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Asymp. Std. Error(a)

Approx. T(b)

Approx. Sig.

Interval by Interval

Pearson’s R

.294

.076

4.004

.000(c)

Ordinal by Ordinal

Spearman Correlation

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.279

.076

3.788

.000(c)

N of Valid Cases

172

From the table the correlation coefficient is 0.294 and is statistically significant, the positive value means that as reliability rating increases then overall satisfaction rating also increases.

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Hypothesis 4:

This hypothesis is based on the theory that users are concerned about information that reflects the present time; the hypothesis is therefore that updated information encourages users to revisit the website. (Wolfinbarger, 2003)

To test this hypothesis question 7(response 1) regarding whether respondents will visit the website in future and question 9(response 2) that indicates whether the website contains timely information:

Information is summarises in the frequency table below:

Q7 (1)* Q9 (2)

Q9(2)

Total

Strongly agree

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Agree

Neither agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Q7(1)

Strongly agree

6

18

5

2

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0

31

Agree

6

44

29

0

1

80

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Neither agree or disagree

0

16

17

0

0

33

Disagree

0

5

8

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2

0

15

Strongly disagree

1

1

2

2

0

6

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Total

13

84

61

6

1

165

Using the frequency table the following test for association was undertaken:

Value

df

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Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

43.399(a)

16

.000

Likelihood Ratio

40.295

16

.001

Linear-by-Linear Association

13.960

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1

.000

N of Valid Cases

165

The chi square significance value indicates that there is association between the two variables, the table below indicates the correlation coefficients:

Value

Asymp. Std. Error(a)

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Approx. T(b)

Approx. Sig.

Interval by Interval

Pearson’s R

.292

.089

3.894

.000(c)

Ordinal by Ordinal

Spearman Correlation

.296

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.077

3.961

.000(c)

N of Valid Cases

165

The correlation coefficient value is 0.292 and given that this value is significant then updated information will encourage individuals to visit the website.

Hypothesis 5:

Another theory by Wolfinbarger (2003) states that a successful website will be based on quality

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of information, services and privacy, the hypothesis to test here is that the number of users increases if the contents can be understood, privacy is maintained and the website provides quality information

Regression analysis is used whereby question 7(response 1) on whether a respondent will visit the website in future, question 6(32) regarding privacy and question 8(10) regarding whether the information was sufficient and complete for the respondent needs.

Model

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F

Sig.

1

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Regression

29.374

2

14.687

16.497

.000(a)

Residual

154.909

174

.890

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Total

184.282

176

From the ANOVA table results show that the estimated coefficients are significant given that the significant level is less than 0.05. This means that the hypothesis that number of users increase if the contents can be understood, privacy is maintained and the website provides quality information is true.

Hypothesis 6:

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Success of a website according to Wolfinbarger (2003) also depends on whether the information available meets the needs of the user, the hypothesis in this case is whether the information available to users is customized to meet the needs of the users.

To test this hypothesis we test the success of the website using question 1 responses regarding time taken to complete tasks and question 6 (response 13) regarding whether the website layout facilitates search. The following is the frequency table for the responses:

Q1 * Q6 (13)

Q6(13)

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Total

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Q1

Less than 5 minutes

10

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31

10

2

1

54

5-10 minutes

5

41

23

5

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2

76

10-20 minutes

1

23

11

6

0

41

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20-30 minutes

1

8

1

0

0

10

More than 30 minutes

1

0

0

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1

1

3

Total

18

103

45

14

4

184

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From the table majority of the respondents took 5 to 10 minutes to complete the task and majority agree that the website layout helped facilitate search. The following is the results table:

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

37.091(a)

16

.002

Likelihood Ratio

29.716

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16

.020

Linear-by-Linear Association

3.911

1

.048

N of Valid Cases

184

Chi square significance value is less than 0.05 and this means that there is association between

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the two variables, this means that the success of a website is determined by the quality of information available and whether this information meets the need of users.

Conclusion:

All the hypothesis tested using the data were accepted, this means that the theories by Wolfinbarger (2003) depicts ways in which websites can be improved, most important factors include accuracy of information, timing, effectiveness and quality of information. Chi square, frequency analysis, correlation and regression analysis are used to test and results show that all these factors actually affect the success of a website.

REFERENCE:

Wolfinbarger, M. (2003) Dimensionalizing, measuring and predicting quality. Journal of Retailing, vol79 (3), page 183.

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