The Asymmetric Effect of Web Site Attribute Performance on Web Satisfaction: An Empirical Study

The purpose of this study is to examine the asymmetrical effects of negative and positive Web site attribute performance on satisfaction. An online survey of satisfaction with an e-portal was conducted, and a total of 515 usable questionnaires were collected. Psychometric properties of the measures were examined, and a dummy-variable regression model was used to estimate the regression coefficients. Results show that the importance of asymmetrical effect is different for different attributes, where the negative performance on information reliability and usefulness had a more significant impact on satisfaction than their positive performance. On the other hand, the positive performance on information understandability and system navigation had a more significant impact on satisfaction than their negative performance. This difference of asymmetrical effect is an important area calling for future investigation.