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Website benchmarking theory and the website analysis method (WAM) are benchmark tested across non-commercial tropical tourism websites. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The abridged WAM benchmarks 280 tropical tourism websites from four continental areas (Africa, Asia, Oceania, and The Americas) and presence or absence of website components objectively rank-scores. Across locations significant website benchmark score differences are determined. In all, 20 of these websites are ranked by an eight expert focus group. These experts also seek-out the existence of allocated common website components.

The abridged WAM approach is suitable for benchmarking tropical tourism websites. Website benchmarking scores at-level are determined. At the website, domain, and function levels significant continental area differences exist. Experts cross-check the study. They find it easier to rank websites with fewer components, and show split decisions when determining the existence of common website components.

This study’s abridged version of WAM uses publicly viewable components to show significant differences across website scores, and identifies some missing components for possible future inclusion on the website, and it also supports the WAM benchmarking theory approach.

Website managers/owners can apply WAM (or an abridged WAM) to benchmark their websites. WAM is theoretically supported and it systematically allows comparison against the universal set of components and/or against competitor websites. A full or abridged WAM approach to website benchmarking is preferable to subjective or survey-based approaches.

This study successfully applies the Cassidy and Hamilton (2016) theory and approach to practical website benchmarking.

The purpose of this study is to report the findings of a benchmarking exercise among official tourism websites of five Southeast Asian countries. website benchmarking, namely, a strategy used to evaluate and compare website quality, has been widely used within the context of tourism studies. Yet there is a relative lack of information concerning best practices for official tourism websites as a form of promoting rural tourism and sustainability.

By using a qualitative approach, a group of six tourism researchers were invited to evaluate official tourism websites of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines for user-friendliness, site attractiveness, marketing attractiveness and provision of information on rural tourism and sustainability.

Overall, the evaluations provided by the researchers indicated that in general, the Indonesian and Malaysian websites were always perceived as the best options compared to the Thai, Philippine and Vietnamese online platforms, mainly due to their visual appeal. However, this study also highlighted that the information about rural tourism products in all the websites evaluated was regarded as being very limited. Furthermore, the variety and diversity of respondents’ opinions showed that subjective components played a role in the interpretation of the websites.

Based on the findings of this study, three main recommendations have been suggested to assist tourism websites’ designers to design more impactful websites.

The novelty of this study lies in the consideration of websites as interactional and dialectical narratives whose meanings are produced, negotiated or challenged by the users.

Literature-identified website benchmarking (WB) approaches are generally time consuming, survey based, with little agreement on what and how to measure website components. The purpose of this paper is to establish a theoretical approach to WB. A comprehensive design science research methodology (DSRM) artifact facilitates the evaluation of the website against the universal set of benchmark components. This knowledge allows managers to gauge/reposition their websites.

DSRM establishes a website analysis method (WAM) artifact. Across six activities (problem identification, solution objective, artifact design/development, artifact demonstration, artifact evaluation, results communication), the WAM artifact solves the DSRM-identified WB problem.

The WAM artifact uses 230 differentiated components, allowing managers to understand in-depth and at-level WB. Typological website components deliver interpretable WB scores. Website comparisons are made at domain (aesthetic, marketing, technical) and/or functional levels.

New/emergent components (and occasionally new functions) are included (and redundant components removed) as upgrades to the DSRM WAM artifact’s three domains and 28 functions. Such modifications help keep latest benchmarking comparisons (and/or website upgrades) optimized.

This DSRM study employs a dichotomous present/absent component approach, allowing the WAM artifact’s measures to be software programmed, and merged at three different levels, delivering a useful WB tool for corporates.

DSRM identifies the benchmarking problem. Rough-cut set-theory and mutual-exclusivity of components allow the causal-summing of typological website components into an objective WAM artifact WB solution. This new, comprehensive, objective-measurement approach to WB thus offers comparative, competitive, and website behavioral implications for corporates.

The purpose of this paper is to study the select Smart Cities of Czech and Indian counterparts and assess the extent to which open government data (OGD) standards are being adhered to using select indicators.

This study integrates the benchmarking frameworks provided in literature on OGD and apply them to evaluate the OGD standards of the Smart Cities’ websites.

Whereas the Czech Smart Cities are relatively more advanced in their OGD initiatives, the Indian counterpart is far lagging behind in their endeavors.

While there are many studies on OGD and Smart Cities, there has been no study which seeks to appreciate if the OGD initiatives are being adhered to by the Smart Cities.

This research looks at the significance of friends and relatives as an information source for consumers planning holidays. Recent research has largely ignored friends and relatives as destination information sources and has focused instead on the Internet. Two categories of friends and relatives are identified, friends and relatives who live in a destination and friends and relatives who have visited a destination of interest. An exit survey of 1,203 tourists departing a major international destination in Australia found that while the Internet was an important source of information, friends and relatives were as important, if not more, regardless of country of origin and age. These findings indicate that information from friends and relatives and the Internet are complementary rather than exclusive in the minds of consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which brand positioning elements are manifested in the business‐to‐business (B2B) online environment.

The UK print industry is used to investigate the web site elements used to communicate positioning elements through the content analysis of corporate web pages of 30 UK print suppliers.

A framework is developed to show how web site communications are manifested in the online B2B environment.

Because the research vehicle is a sample of websites from only one industry the findings may not be transferable to all industries nor to the whole industry. However, the model is a useful framework for helping managers to plan their online communications.

The paper concludes by giving recommendations about how the framework can be used by practitioners in order to improve the linkage between communications messages and the means for transferring these messages.

This is a novel approach to examining branding elements in the online environment. Comparatively little literature exists which examines branding in the online B2B environment.

This study aims to expand previous work on website stage models by proposing a new model including a dimension encompassing digital integration and the context of mobile, digital marketing and new technologies. Also, this study aims to classify Brazilian wineries using the stage model proposed and verify if the designated stages influence the wineries’ presence in digital and mobile media.

Observational research and quantitative content analysis were adopted to examine a sample of winery websites (N = 150) located in different states and regions of Brazil and create a new website stage model. After the new model’s development, the authors conducted a statistic analysis by running a one-factor analysis of variance to assess the influence of the company’s stage in the use of digital media and mobile strategies, as well as its impacts on market development.

The results suggested a quite mature market regarding website stage position, even though there is still room for growth and technological innovation. Also, the research findings show that there is a positive association between the company’s stage in the use of digital and mobile media strategies. In other words, the more advanced the winery stage, the greater its digital media and mobile presence.

While previous studies attempted to identify wineries’ stages through models, this study presents a new approach by updating the past studies’ stages as well as providing and testing a digital media and mobile dimension. This research contributes to consolidating the Brazilian wine industry position regarding its presence in digital and mobile media, bringing reflections to organizations, society and theory development.

The range of official business that can be handled online has grown in the recent decade. In many cases, e-services are a must. At the same time, the economic impact and social importance of mobile technology have increased. Mobile devices are becoming more and more popular, and their applications diversify. It comes as no surprise that mobile users expect e-services and official information to be available through this channel. The purpose of this paper is to identify problems (difficulties) occurring when browsing websites of local government units (LGU) on mobile devices.

The comfort of website browsing depends mostly on the development technique, and the way content is published. Responsive websites are much easier to view on mobile devices than “static” ones. The study involves 400 websites of LGU in Poland. The websites were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analyses with selected techniques and computer tools.

The set of 400 websites contained 119 (29.75%) that were not responsive. It exhibited a substantial potential for the optimisation of websites for mobile devices. The study revealed the most common usability failures such as distorted images, “scattered icons”, partial responsiveness and bothersome messages in pop-ups.

The research identified the most widespread problems with the tested websites. The study yielded recommendations for local governments, which may be useful when managing content, upgrading the website or replacing it with a new one.

Business process management (BPM) networks have become an important theme in both research and practice. Drawing from governance theory, this paper seeks to provide a theoretical understanding of BPM networks and introduce three types of BPM governance: market, network, and hierarchy. Subsequently, it aims to study the impact of BPM maturity, organization size, and financial stress (independent variables) on the three types of BPM governance (dependent variable).

After a thorough literature analysis a quantitative study is conducted. Comprehensive data of 538 local public administration in Germany and Japan is comparatively studied by means of a PLS (model and multi group) analysis.

The empirical study provides evidence for the significant dependence of BPM governance on contextual variables: the configuration of the BPM network relies on the BPM maturity and the perceived financial stress. Also, such dependence does vary between the two countries. Higher financial stress leads to more higher network sourcing in Germany and to higher market sourcing in Japan, respectively.

This study suggests that the role of process managers changes over time. In immature organizations, process managers appear to work alone and struggle for resources. However, once organizations start to mature, the role changes to that of an “orchestrator of different actors.” Process managers in future public organizations (assuming a positive development of capabilities), both in Asian and European settings, must be able to collaborate with actors from different governance mechanisms.

First, the paper provides a governance‐theory based understanding of BPM networks. It introduces market‐type, network‐type, and hierarchy‐type BPM governance and thereby provides greater conceptual and theoretical clarity of this important phenomenon. So far, this research area has been under‐theorized. Second, the paper provides a theory that explains BPM network governance. Here, relevant contextual variables are taken into account, including the BPM maturity of an organization. Third, the paper contributes comprehensive empirical insights into BPM networks structures, governance mechanisms, and their dependence on contextual variables (especially the BPM maturity of an organization). Fourth, it provides an ample comparative theory‐based analysis of BPM networks in two different countries. Such an endeavor, as to the author's best knowledge, has not yet been undertaken so far.