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This study aims to contribute perspective into how user-generated content (UGC) can be found to reinforce, or challenge, the commercial promotion of volunteer tourism in Nepal. Volunteer tourism is an expanding alternative niche market spanning the globe. More understanding is needed to identify potential conflicts that may arise in relation to information communicated via official promotional materials from volunteer tourism organisation websites and from UGC on sites such as TripAdvisor.

A qualitative content analysis of websites and online UGC gathered from identified promotional websites and TripAdvisor used to inform and persuade tourists was analysed.

Three themes emerged from the analysis of promotional websites: perspective outcomes of volunteerism on locals and VolunTourists, requirements of participating volunteers and the ability of volunteer organisations to effectively meet expectations. The TripAdvisor forum content is broken down into two main areas: requests/recommendations and critical reflections. UGC is playing a pivotal role to inform future VolunTourists, based on experiences by previous volunteers. Commercial websites emphasise achievable positive outcomes by unskilled/unqualified volunteers, with the support of credible volunteer organisations. Conversely, UGC focusses on negative outcomes associated with volunteer tourism.

This study provides insights into how online platforms are being used by consumers. This study suggests that significant disparities exist between content communicated via promotional websites and UGC, with a number of important implications discussed.

This study aims to address this gap in the understanding of the authors through the analysis of emerged themes communicated via Nepal volunteer websites and TripAdvisor forums. Moreover, there is a need for volunteers to be more informed about the complexities of the industry and volunteer organisations, acknowledging more needs to be considered to meet the requirements/expectations of volunteers.

The relevant literature suggests that website designers should consider the needs of their target groups. This study aims to show the importance of certain website content/applications as perceived by specific user segments, and reveal a posteriori segments based on motivational factors for reading user‐generated content (UGC). The study then seeks to visualize the connections between segments, their perceived importance of website applications, and further explanatory variables, by applying correspondence analysis (CA). The authors show that creative usage of CA may give insight into the varying contributions of certain variables through the exclusion of scale categories or segments.

The authors collected 440 completed questionnaires in an online survey. Of the 240 respondents who read UGC, the authors clustered motivational factors by applying a vector quantization method, and then used CA to give insights into the importance of website content/applications for certain segments. The paper explains how matrices can be simplified in order to facilitate interpretation, and applies Rasch analysis to ensure the accuracy of this simplification.

The results indicate that six segments exist with different motivations for accessing UGC: enthusiasts, mavericks, tips and price optimizers, safety players, uncommercials, and avoiders. For these different segments, the perceived importance of diverse website content/applications vary. The authors show that interpretation may be simplified, without the loss of substantive information, by combining scale levels and excluding neutral categories. The Rasch analysis also supports combining categories.

The authors also show how the demonstration of certain effects can be enhanced by animated graphics, and that these can then be embedded into PDF files. However, embedding of animations only makes sense for digital articles or media in general; in a printed version, the reader would need to be redirected to a website.

Social media website providers need to be aware that diverse segments perceive the importance of content/applications differently, and designers should customize a website accordingly. Finally, and in terms of methodology, this paper highlights how CA is valuable for management presentations because it displays categorical data in an easy‐to‐read graph format.

No research has hitherto shed light on the connection between the perceived importance of website content/applications and the motivational factors for accessing UGC. This paper contributes to filling this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and quality of online intellectual capital (IC) disclosure released via websites and social media in relation to university stakeholders’ information needs in Spanish public universities. In addition, this paper examines whether there are differences in the online IC disclosure according to the type of university.

The study applies content analysis and a survey. The content analysis was used to analyse the websites and social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram) of all Spanish public universities in the year 2019, whereas the survey was submitted to all members of the Social Councils of Spanish public universities.

The findings indicate that university stakeholders attach great importance to online disclosure of specific information about IC. However, the findings emphasise that Spanish universities’ website and social media content are still in their infancy. Specifically, this study found that the quality of disclosed information on IC in public universities’ websites is of low level, particularly with regard to the disclosure of relational capital. The study found that the information provided by Spanish public universities via social media mainly concerns the structural and relational capital. Likewise, the results of this paper evidence that the larger and more internationally focused universities reveal more online information on IC.

The results of the research may be beneficial for managers of higher education institutions as a basis for developing adequate strategies addressing IC disclosure through the websites. In order to satisfy the information needs of university stakeholders, Spanish universities can be recommended to focus on reporting higher-quality information on financial relations, students’ satisfaction, quality standard, work-related knowledge/know-how and collaboration between universities and other organisations such as firms, local government and society as a whole.

This study explores two innovative tools to provide IC disclosure in the higher education institutions context, namely, websites and social media, whereas previous studies focused on traditional tools as annual report. Likewise, this study considers the quality of this information.

The real estate industry is an e‐commerce anomaly. Although the overall growth of ecommerce is driven by the business‐to‐business sector, the majority of real estate e‐commerce is derived from its retail‐oriented residential sector. This study examines the structure of residential and commercial real estate websites, with the goal of determining whether some patterns of content might increase the quality and quantity of information available to buyers and sellers thereby contributing to the disparity between residential and commercial real estate e‐commerce growth. The results of the research show residential real estate websites offer richer informational content than commercial real estate websites. No significant differences are found for the user friendliness and functionality (ie ancillary services) provided by residential and commercial real estate websites.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a categorization of corporate websites as tools of online communication, in accordance with how they apply usability to the content they present, and to determine the indicators of the content and usability variables which mark the differences between each group of websites.

The present study analyses how 754 firms manage the usability of the content they provide through the channels of their corporate websites. To this end, a cluster analysis was applied to distinguish the types of firms according to the usability and content of their websites, followed by a discriminant analysis to determine which variables differentiate the groups.

The work has presented a list of the indicators that the literature has considered to be determinant aspects of firms’ use of their websites for corporate strategic communications. These indicators can be applied in forming an instrument to measure the quality of company websites in this area.

The present paper has attempted to clarify the panorama of corporate online communication via websites, understanding the issue as being not just a mere technicality but addressing it from the perspective of the emitter of the communication as a strategic instrument.

This paper aims to evaluate the website content of Alabama academic libraries to examine their services, content and compliance with design and accessibility standards.

A content analysis was conducted on 24 academic library websites discovered through Jeanne Burke’s Higher Education Directory and the Alabama Colleges directory website. All data were collected within a month.

Study data revealed that while academic libraries are offering more online services, many continue to lack certain services or fail to implement basic web design and accessibility standards.

Inclusion into the study was limited to the independent library websites of Alabama institutions offering four-year degree courses and content data discoverable within three clicks of the home page. Future studies might identify why certain libraries lack reference chat services, social media accounts and/or certain accessibility accommodations. Additional research might evaluate multilingual websites and their methods for providing language options.

The results of this study should assist in the evaluation of library websites and increase awareness of design and accessibility standards, enabling designers and policy makers to improve upon future website designs.

This study presents a depth of evaluation and currency unseen in most web content analyses. The extent of this study should provide librarians, web designers, and library policy makers with a suitable comparison for website projects and evaluations.

The purpose of this study is to examine how corporate communication of their social programs on their websites affects the ratings of those programs by independent rating agencies. Firms expend resources on corporate social programs (CSPs) to promote their corporate social responsibility and sustainability credentials. Stakeholders, however, often respond to such “self-promotion” with skepticism because they believe that there are inconsistencies between corporate claims and actions. This research draws on attribution theory as a framework to examine how the perceived CSP performance of firms by uncontrollable sources are affected when firms disseminate CSP information on firm websites, i.e. a controllable source, where their claims may not be verifiable.

This study uses a two-step, mixed method study for the analysis using data from Fortune 500 companies. A qualitative content analysis process identifies the interfaces of CSP and their communications on firms’ website. The process allows the authors to collect CSP data systematically from firm websites and to identify relevant variables through the patterns that emerge from the analysis. The findings are used in a quantitative analysis to study how the patterns underlying CSP communication on their websites affect the ratings of firms’ CSP by independent rating agencies.

Results show that the location, the manner, the content and the scope of CSP information dissemination on firm websites, as well as perceived commitment to CSP identified on the website are important drivers of perceived CSP performance. A robustness check using an alternative independent rating of CSP also provides results that are supportive of the findings. In addition, the effects are found to differ by sector of operation, firm age and profitability.

This research suggests that communication of CSPs at controllable sources of firm information dissemination can have a significant effect on the evaluation of CSP at uncontrollable sources when such communication facilitates the assessment of other information from a firm to determine the motive underlying a firm’s CSP.

The findings show that firms and managers can influence the perceived ratings, rankings or scores of their CSP by stakeholders when they put the right information at the right place on their corporate websites. One of the findings shows that even moderate levels of CSP commitment demonstrated on firm websites result in positive perceptions of CSP, which has marked practical implications.

The findings show that integrating even a medium level of commitment to CSP increases the positive perceptions of a firm’s CSP. Thus, society benefits from the firm’s action without a substantial impact on the firm’s profits.

This research shows that firm-controlled sources of CSP information dissemination to stakeholders can affect uncontrollable sources of CSP information evaluation.

Websites are the most important element of company strategy in the digital space. Therefore, establishing strategic management of online business is essential to improve firm connectedness and competitiveness and to achieve global company reach. This paper aims to propose the analysis of technical and content quality of websites to identify the main weaknesses and strengths of online business.

An innovative measurement instrument called IWebQEI is designed to measure web quality level. This instrument is validated with data from 104 international companies. The results are used to verify whether there are quality differences between informative and e-commerce websites.

The main findings indicate that e-commerce websites achieve greater levels of technical and content quality than informative sites, and companies implementing e-commerce pay more attention to the content quality dimension. In contrast, companies using an informative website are more focused on the technical quality dimension. Based on these results, practical insights are offered to improve the strategic management of e-commerce.

Few studies have focused on analysing the technical and content quality of websites to identify the main weaknesses and strengths of online business. The results offer important theoretical and practical contributions for companies on how to manage their website to improve firm connectivity and competitiveness.

Los sitios web son el elemento más importante de la estrategia digital de la compañia. Una gestión estratégica del negocio online es esencial para mejorar su conectividad, competitividad y para conseguir su alcance global. Este trabajo propone el análisis de la calidad técnica y de contenido de sitios web para identificar las principales debilidades y fortalezas del negocio online.

Para medir el nivel de calidad web, se ha diseñado un innovador instrumento de medición, denominado IWebQEI. Este instrumento se valida con datos de 104 empresas internacionales. Los resultados se utilizan para comprobar si existen diferencias de calidad entre las webs informativas y los e-commerce.

Las resultados indican que los e-commerce alcanzan mayores niveles de calidad técnica y de contenido que las webs informativas, y las empresas que implementan un e-commerce prestan más atención a la calidad de contenido. En cambio, las empresas que implementan una web informativa se centran más en la calidad técnica. A partir de estos resultados se ofrecen ideas prácticas para mejorar la gestión estratégica del e-commerce.

Pocos estudios analizan la calidad técnica y de contenido de los sitios web para identificar las principales debilidades y fortalezas del negocio online. Los resultados ofrecen importantes contribuciones teóricas y prácticas sobre cómo gestionar los sitios web para mejorar la conectividad y la competitividad de la compañia.

企业网站是公司在数字空间中战略的最重要元素。因此, 建立在线业务本身的战略管理对于提高公司的连通性和竞争力以及实现公司的全球影响力至关重要。本文提出对企业网站的技术和内容质量进行分析, 以确定在线业务的主要弱点和优势。

设计了一个创新的测量仪器, 称为IWebQEI, 用于测量网络质量水平。该仪器通过104家国际公司的数据进行验证。结果被用于检查信息网站和电子商务网站之间是否存在质量差异。

主要研究结果表明, 总体而言, 电子商务网站的技术质量和内容质量水平高于信息类网站, 实施电子商务的公司更注重内容质量维度。相比之下, 实施信息型网站的公司则更注重技术质量维度。基于这些结果, 为改进电子商务的战略管理提供了实际的见解。

以前的研究很少关注分析企业网站的技术和内容质量, 以确定在线业务的主要弱点和优势。研究结果为企业提供了重要的理论和实践贡献, 即如何管理企业网站以提高公司的连通性和竞争力。

This chapter explores “politic talks” (also known as political information) on the websites of academic libraries in land-grant state universities of the South in the context of a global retreat of democracy that emerged during former President Trump’s regime as the 45th President of the United States. The exploratory qualitative evaluation applies website content analysis of seven information offerings in three categories that include: (1) information sources (collections, resources), information policy and planning (assigned role, strategic representation), and connections (internal, external, news and events). Promising practices and illustrative examples of “politic talks” representation on academic library websites show how they are serving as significant providers of political information during current politically turbulent times. The discussion of these findings in relation to each state’s voting likelihood based on trends since 2000 has significant political implications in enhancing the role of academic libraries moving forward.

Given the increased importance of food in tourists’ travel experience, the purpose of this paper is to explore the current and future potential of local food and foodways in marketing Egyptian destinations online.

The content of 20 Egyptian destination marketing organization (DMO) websites was subject to a content analysis. A checklist was developed based on literature analysis. The frequencies of information related to food culture and cuisine marketing were tallied, followed by a qualitative assessment of contents from the various websites. The results were further discussed with DMO representatives to provide contextualized insights as to the future potential of utilizing local food and food tourism initiatives as a component of DMOs website marketing in Egypt.

The study noted some initial efforts for Egyptian DMO websites to market food culture and gastronomic practices; however, the results suggest that the usage of food culture on Egyptian DMOs websites is still in its infancy. The study also highlights the challenges that need to be tackled as well as the resources required for food tourism development.

This study illustrates the need and potential capacity of Egyptian DMO websites to market food culture and local cuisines (including traditional foods and table manners). These results are expected to help Egyptian DMOs to strategically embrace local cuisine and food culture as a vehicle for destination marketing.

This case study provides insights for African and other developing economies in their destination marketing. The proposed framework and guidelines are intended to potentially serve as a framework for destination marketers and entrepreneurs to optimize the tourism potential of food culture.