Emerald Management Reviews

Design/methodology/approach - A review of the literature of Worldwide Web quality and user acceptance in electronic commerce (e-commerce) is presented to provide a series of hypotheses relating playfulness, system quality, information quality, and service quality to intention to use online retailing. Reports the results of Web-based survey, involving 942 users of an online retailing system.

Findings - The results indicated that user attitude and behavioural intention to use an online retailing Web site is strongly governed by the degree of playfulness involved in its use, while Web quality factors, notably system quality, information quality, and service quality, had a significant impact on the perceived ease of use, playfulness, and usefulness of the Web site and encouraged repeated use of the site.

Research limitations/implications - The research was limited by the selection of playfulness as the main determinant of use whereas other factors could be equally or more important.

Practical implications - The results could help Web site developers in making their e-commerce Web sites more user friendly.

Originality/value - Presents a balanced integrative framework for the determination of Web quality that could lead to further insights into what makes an online retailing Web site more attractive to users.