Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Usually, websites consist of several components (e.g., a homepage and subsections) that can be very different from each other. Thus, it can be advantageous to assess the usability separately for each part. Hence the question arises if and how the order in which the usability evaluation was done influences the results. The presented empirical study investigated order effects for the arrangement of the usability evaluation of the components of a website. The use case was the website of a library that included the homepage and three online services. For two of the services, the association with the website owner was obvious. For one service, the association was weak; that is, the connection with the website owner was not obvious. The independent variable was the order of the usability evaluation; that is, the homepage was either evaluated before or after the services. The measurement instrument was the System Usability Scale that was applied for a retrospective evaluation.There was a significant order effect for the weakly associated service: The usability was rated better if the rating was done after the evaluation of the homepage. The order effect can be best explained as a halo effect that emerges because a good image of the website owner was made cognitively available by the preceding evaluation of the homepage. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Author: Stephanie B. Linek
Institution: ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
Language: English
Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2793429802